The arrival of Alise was a sight that made me want to start crying, the relief that she brought with her mere presence proved enough to make me slump to the ground. Rudicus could only look at this strange woman who had appeared like lightning, and then panic as he saw me fall to my knees on the ground. With a yell he started to run over toward me, even as he called for one of the other soldiers to bring a first aid kit.

Alise paused for a moment to pick up the Shatterblade, before she started to walk over to me with a quiet glide that made her elegance all the more obvious. She paid no attention to Rudicus, but instead offered the weapon back to me. "Yours, I believe," she whispered out. She tilted her head ever so slightly as she looked at me. "If you were feeling better I would smack you."

"What?" was all I could think of in response, while I gripped the Shatterblade tightly in my still functioning hand.

"Breaking yourself to defeat an opponent does nothing to help your friends and allies," Alise informed me, while she stared pointedly at my ravaged arm. It was fairly obvious to her that I had pushed myself beyond my limits, and suffered largely due to that.

Rudicus stood over me, while one of the legionnaires joined him with a small bag. The legionnaire knelt down next to me and began to work on applying bandages, which brought slight hisses of pain from my mouth. "Who might you be, my lady?" Rudicus asked while he watched his subordinate work on patching me up.

Alise straightened up, and turned her head slowly to look at the general with a tiny smile on her face. "Lady Alise, I'm but a mere woman who runs an orphanage. I need to sweep the town to make sure all of the dryads are dead, so I shall leave Lily in your hands. I'm certain you'll lay down your life to stop anything from harming her."

Those final words held a certain degree of hostility that made Rudicus blanch, he had already witnessed the capabilities of Alise and knew she would rip him apart easily. He hastily nodded his head to her, even as he offered up a salute that he would normally not waste on a civilian. "Have no fears, Lady Alise, I shall most assuredly guard Liliana for you."

One moment Alise was there and the next she was gone, vanished between the blink of an eye like a phantom. With her departure Rudicus relaxed visibly, his shoulders sagged and his back loosened as he slouched an inch. "Don't let her scare you, she's wonderful," I informed Rudicus, while I watched the legionnaire work on my wounds. "She really does run an orphanage."

"Why does someone that powerful..." Rudicus began to muse aloud, before he shook his head. "Nevermind. Can I assume that she will eliminate all the dryads still in town then?"

"And then some," I replied. The bandages had been wrapped around my injuries, but the fact that I had broken bones meant a lot more than mere bandages would be required. With the assistance of Rudicus I managed to stand up, and then formed the Shatterblade into an actual crutch. "Help me walk, we need to go meet up with Nala."

Rudicus lent me a shoulder, before he pointed one finger at the solider who had patched me up. "William, go find the other legionnaires and check in on their status. We need to find out what's happened to everyone."

It took far too long for the pair of us to get through the streets to the barracks, which were chaotic as civilians who were injured rested outside. Legionnaires had pulled chairs, benches and beds from the various houses and even the barrack itself and laid them out in front of the building, while Nala went from person to person helping each.

The two assistants that she continually yelled at worked furiously to keep up with her pace, they were often left to handle the easiest cases while Nala took the life threatening issues on personally. The amount of injured was far lower than what one might have expected, though that was in no small part thanks to the fact that most of the legionnaires themselves were hurt.

The two legionnaires who I had seen get tossed into the walls and knocked out were present, each one had bandages wrapped about their heads and still had a somewhat unsteady look. They had bruises, scratches and one even had a broken nose. To see that they had both survived the dryads assault made me happy, though that happiness dropped when I saw the bodies covered in sheets lain out on the ground.

At least six people had died during the attack of the dryads, though who they were specifically I could not tell due to the sheets that were placed on them. Nobody looked at the corpses, for the survivors it was more important to recover than to wallow in the misery of the loss. While I stared at the bodies the thought that one might be Jesson or Eran came to me, though I hoped that was not the case.

"Nala!" Rudicus called out, as he helped me over to an open bench. It was a hard wood bench with no cushions, but it was better than the dirty ground and so I rested on it.

Nala looked up and saw Rudicus, but she shook her head before she continued working. Even I could tell why she did that, she was in the middle of sewing up someone who had a large cut that ran up their side and was continually bleeding. "I'll be fine, don't worry," I told Rudicus while I rested on the bench.

General Rudicus nodded his head at me, though his face was as emotionless as he could pull off. It was always amusing to see that emulation of Sciroco, especially since he very rarely bothered acting stiff and emotionless when we were alone. Why Sciroco had started to act like that was one of those mysteries that I had never figured out, nor held any interest in solving.

While I waited for Nala to get to me William the legionnaire arrived and reported to Rudicus, though they talked in hushed tones at a distance from both myself and the other patients. Through the whole conversation Rudicus kept up his poker face and didn't let any sort of reaction slip, which meant to me that nothing truly horrifying was reported.

The tingle that raced down my back was what warned me, and so when there was a presence seated on the bench next to me I didn't scream in surprise. Alise had arrived with that ease of a ghost, and settled on the bench all in a flash. "I can't find any more," she told me, while she watched Rudicus and William talk.

It was not much that was said, yet it was enough to bring a smile to my face. "Thank god," I breathed out in relief.

"I'm going to need to step outside of the town and check the area nearby, and any nearby towns as well," Alise said. "Once I'm certain all the dryads are exterminated I'll need to head back to the orphanage."

"You don't want to stay and talk to anyone?" I asked her.

"Waste of time. Right now only Skara and the kids are defending the orphanage," Alise told me, before she sighed quietly.

"Where's Shorty?"

"I sent him to the local garrison at Shiadone," Alise said, before she stood up from the bench. "He should be on his way soon."

Rudicus had walked over to join us while I had been distracted, he held a clipboard in one hand which had been handed to him by someone previously. "Lady Alise, as a general of the Legion I offer our thanks for your timely assistance," he told her in a stiff tone, while he gave a slight bow.

Alise offered a tiny smile to him, before she gave a nod of her head. "Think nothing of it," she replied. "I'm sorry but I need to leave. A company of legionnaires should be reaching the area soon and I'll point them to this town."

"That seems oddly coincidental," Rudicus commented.

"Contingencies are a useful sort of thing to have," Alise told him, before she lifted up a hand and gave a slight wave toward me. "Make sure you go see your parents before you come back to the orphanage. I'd rather not have your mother throwing a fit."

Before I could even offer a reply she had already vanished, which left Rudicus looking altogether unhappy. "Something the matter?" I asked of him, with an impish little grin on my face.

Rudicus merely glared at me, before he turned away and walked back toward Nala. The medic of his company was very much a busy woman, as she continued to work on numerous bleeding patients who all needed her immediate attention. Without even asking Rudicus put down the clipboard and started to help her, though he seemed to be only as efficient as the other legionnaires who were present.

While everyone kept on working I settled down on the bench, lifting my legs up and letting them rest on the full length of it. The wood was hard, very uncomfortable to the point of near distraction, and yet I still managed to slowly fall asleep. My final thoughts before the darkness caused by fatigue swept over me was how I wanted to go to the orphanage instead of my own home.

♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪

The town of Mastille would never be the same again, the loss of numerous families caused such anguish for many of the citizens that it would be weeks before they recovered. As was normal the bodies were burned, including those of the legionnaires who had perished during the assault. No body would be buried for fear of the Plague being attracted, something which Rudicus hammered home was very possible given their recent activity.

Pyre after pyre were erected, then a moment later the air was filled with a stench which quickly soured the appetite of anyone nearby. Some of the people stood and watched as the corpses were burned, and the surviving legionnaires themselves saluted the pyres upon which their companions rested.

It was a pity that we would never find the corpses of those who had gone missing, whatever the dryads had done with the bodies would remain a mystery that I was all too happy not to solve. Later that night, and the subsequent nights I never encountered Taryn in any of my dreams while I slept almost permanently in hopes of recovering faster.

The fourth day after Alise had arrived like a hurricane and saved us from imminent death the legionnaires led by Shorty arrived, each of the men treated him with far more respect than I would have expected. When I went to speak with my little friend he shook his head, Shorty was far too busy ordering the legionnaires around like a general.

Tiltain had gone missing during the dryad assault, whether he had been abducted or devoured or merely deserted was unknown. Rudicus dispatched an order for his arrest upon discovery, and revoked all of the rights that Tiltain would have had as a member of the Legion. It would be a bad day for the coward if he still survived, something which none of us cared to have happen.

A day after Shorty arrived with the reinforcements Rudicus ordered me into a carriage, and then joined me. "No arguments, you're going home," Rudicus told me straight out when I asked him what was going on.

"What about Shorty?" I asked, as I looked out of the carriage at my little and yet old friend who continued to bark orders at the legionnaires.

"Lady Alise requested him to make certain the town was in working order before he was allowed to return," Rudicus explained, while he knocked on the interior wall of the carriage. A moment later the carriage started to roll along the road, while I continued to watch Shorty as long as possible.

So with minimal warning and no hope of talking with Shorty I was forced onto the road again, though at least I road in luxury. It was a finely designed carriage with a comfortable interior and plenty of leg room. Rudicus left me alone during the trip, he seemed far too busy with reading and writing documents to spend time talking to me.

Have you ever felt to yourself that you're bored? Imagine that sensation stretched over fourteen days and you'll get a glimpse of how I felt during the two weeks we spent riding toward the north. It seemed as though I was doomed to forever ride in carriages which took far too long to reach their destination. Due to the fact that Rudicus had no urge to talk to me I spent as much of the ride asleep, often only waking up long enough to take something to help ease the pain that rippled through my body with every bump.

Scintallia had not changed in the short time I had been gone, and when the carriage paused in front of my home I fought the urge to shove Rudicus out and order the driver to keep going. Alise had been quite right in that if I didn't come back home to check in with my mother there would be complications, and those would most likely include her thrashing me for a good while even if I was still injured.

"Come on," I almost growled to Rudicus as I clambered out of the carriage, still relying on the Shatterblade to create a crutch. The muscles in my legs had for the most part healed, but the fracture in my left leg was still not finished. Given the rate it was progressing at I had at least another week, if not two, before walking freely would be possible.

Before Rudicus or I could even reach the mansion, the twin doors flung open wide and fast enough to scare the twin butlers who stood outside. Diana adorned with her regular maid outfit, and her little tiara that rested on her head, darted over to us with a cry of happiness. She flung her arms roughly around me, which forced a hiss of pain to escape from my mouth.

With a cry of shock she stepped back, one hand lifted to her mouth. "I'm so sorry Lady Liliana, I didn't realize you were injured that badly!" she declared, a look of fear flashed over her face.

"It's alright Diana," I comforted her. "I'm happy to see you too. I'm going to my room to rest for a bit, please inform my mother that I'll meet with her at dinner."

Diana gave a curtsy, before she turned away and almost ran back to the mansion. She paused for a moment to speak briefly with one of the twins who stood at the mansion entrance, and then vanished into the interior without a further word. "Very energetic," Rudics commented from my side.

We walked to the door, although the one guard held up a hand toward Rudicus and pulled him to the side for a moment. They spoke in hushed tones, though about what I was not certain, before Rudicus was allowed to join me in the foyer of the mansion. When he came in he had a look that stated quite clearly how unhappy he was over what had been said to him.

"What did they say?" I asked of him, before I started to walk toward the door which would lead to my room.

"Nothing you need to know," Rudicus bluntly stated. He looked almost embarrassed, which only increased my curiosity. "I shall take my leave for now. Until later, Lady Liliana."

Lady? I mouthed, before I shook my head and walked away. Why he had opted to be a bit more formal at that moment held no importance to me, and instead I felt the distinct urge to go to my room. A few moments later I found myself there, and lowered myself onto the bed with as little grace as was humanly possible. The soft cushions and the fine blankets caught my body as though I had landed in a cloud, and shortly thereafter sleep once more gripped me.

♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪

If not for Diana I would have been late for the dinner, and even then I chose not to wear a formal outfit. It was rude of me, but the idea of struggling into a tight dress and heels did not interest me in the slightest given how my body still ached.

The dining area was the same as always, with the beautiful plates lain out ornamentally on the table. Diana had taken it upon herself to be my main assistant, forgoing her own normal duties in exchange for watching over me. When I seated myself at the table she was there to make certain I had no issues, and even offered to help feed me if I felt the need.

"I'll be fine," I told her when she asked me that, before I waved her off with one hand. I was not an invalid and the fact that she hovered around like I was made me annoyed to the point of near violence.

My mother and father entered together, my father adorned in battle armor which he favored whenever the Empire requested his aid with the Legion. My mother on the other hand wore a loose dress that hugged at her hips and only softly accentuated her chest. When she settled down into her chair my father held it out for her, something I had never seen him do, and then he in turn took his regular spot at the head of the table.

Vargos was already present, he had entered in advance of my mother and most likely cleared it to be safe. Head as well as personal butler and even an accountant when it called for it, Vargos was also the bodyguard of my mother and more than an equal for most people in the Empire. While he could not handle a candle to my own father and mother I was certain that a fight between the two of us would be very close.

Rudicus entered last, he was followed closely by a maid who seemed far too interested in watching him like a hawk. He wore his armor like it was common nature to wear it to a dinner, and settled loudly into his seat across the table from myself and Esmeralda.

The food that was served did little to interest me, it was for the most part common salad mixed with light slices of chicken. The chef had added a slight sauce to it that was for the most part oil, with a strong and almost bitter taste. My mother seemed to thoroughly enjoy it while Rudicus had a look of disgust for a moment. He did, however, eat it all without complaint.

"Did you have fun on your outing?" my mother asked, as the silence broke so suddenly I thought I heard the sound of glass shattering. She smiled toward me, though there was no move to pat my shoulder nor hug me.

"About as fun as the time you caught me sneaking out of legionnaire training when I was seven," I told her. A slight shudder ran through my body at that memory, which caused Rudicus to raise an eyebrow quizzically.

"I've read the reports that General Rudicus filed, it appears you were integral to the survival of his soldiers," Esmeralda said, as she wiggled a single finger toward Vargos.

The head butler stepped toward her, and from behind his back he offered a piece of parchment. Mother held the parchment with one free hand while she pushed away her empty plate, which was promptly taken by a maid who seemed to appear like magic. "By the way, General Rudicus were you quite serious with this request?"

Rudicus stiffened at that inquiry, before he placed his fork down gently and looked to Esmeralda with a serious expression. "I believe it would be beneficial to both our families," Rudicus responded. "As you know my father holds a position of power within the Guild, and many of my relatives are placed highly within the Legion."

"What's going on?" I wondered aloud, while Vargos remained still behind my mother. He spared a quick glance at me, which was followed with a wink, before he returned his gaze to Rudicus.

Mother handed over the parchment to me, although I did not need to bother with reading it as she explained aloud what was happening. "General Rudicus has sent me an official declaration of intent to marry you. He wishes for you to be his betrothed, and is willing to offer quite a fine bride price."

Before I could even stand up Vargos already had a hand on my shoulder, one that held me down with such strength it startled me. My previous belief that I could be his equal was dashed in the matter of a moment, although I would not place him higher than Taryn in overall capacity. The surprise caused by Vargos was enough that I could not even form words with which to speak out against this proposed marriage.

When the words came for a moment I was confused as to where they originated, before the familiarity of the voice made me look to my father. "She will not be marrying you, General Rudicus."

It was a very blunt and straight forward way of turning him down, and one that I had not anticipated given how little my father seemed to care for me. If anything having someone with Rudicus' position of power and wealth as my husband should have made Vandross happy.

Rudicus accepted this declaration with a bit of grace, although the disappointment he felt was very visible on his face. "Might I ask as to why?" he managed to say after a few moments of deep thought.

Vargos loosened his hold on my shoulder as he stepped back to my mother's side, though he gave me another wink of assurance. The various maids and butlers who stood in the background of the room all seemed to have known this was coming, as none seemed disturbed in the slightest by the declaration of intent.

"That's none of your business!" I told Rudicus with no hint of manners. The fact that he had gone around me to try and use my parents to acquire a marriage had flared up a good deal of anger in me. I had felt he was better than that, a belief which he had promptly ruined with his backroom politics.

It was only for a second but I could have sworn that I saw a smile from my father, though he returned to his silent eating once more. Out of everyone present he was the slowest of all the eaters, taking his time as though each bite was important to him and required his fullest attention. Even I had completed eating before him, and I used my left hand to eat which was something I was unaccustomed to doing.

When we all finally finished eating my father pushed his plate away, and then gave a slight wave of his hand toward Vargos. The butler nodded his head and cleared his throat loud enough to draw the attention of everyone, before he bowed and offered a hand toward the seated Esmeralda.

Mother took his hand and stood up, before she gently placed her other hand on her stomach. The smile on her face made the beauty that she held all the more radiant, while she looked at all those in the room with happiness sparkling in her eyes. "I have a bit of good news to tell you all," she said, before she looked to my father. "Vandross and I are going to have another child."

The news hit all of us with the same level of shock that a dragon landing in the middle of your backyard would generate. Most of the maids and butlers paled visibly, while a few clapped their hands happily. Diana who had stood by me and worried so much took the news as I would have expected of her.

She turned and ran for the door while screaming in horror.

♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪

One might think that the news of pregnancy was great, but given how my mother had been while she carried me it was expected. Everybody knows that a pregnant woman can be prone to bouts of unhappiness, sometimes go so far as to be hard to deal with. My mother in turn has the ability to break bones with a flick of a finger, destroy buildings with a well placed punch and otherwise generate nightmares with ease.

Diana, nor any of the other veteran members of the staff, would talk to me about my mother while she held me within her womb. Vargos himself said that if not for his training he would have died numerous times, and that if it wasn't for his great respect for Esmeralda he would've ran away only a few months into the pregnancy.

While I rested in my bed the fact that I would have a sibling in less than a year continued to dance in my head. If it was a brother it would most likely make my father happier beyond anything, but if it was a sister would he treat her the same way? Of course I would be there to help her get through any of the aggravation caused by father, but it would be impossible to protect her from everything.

Also the fact that they were about to have a child was one that shocked me, I had figured that mother had become incapable of having another given how none had appeared in the lengthy time between her recent pregnancy and my birth. It was even something I had commented on to my father, something which he had made me regret instantly.

I stretched on the bed, and then sighed so loudly that if not for the soundproofed walls one of the maids or butlers would've heard it. There was no use in dwelling on spilt milk, as Alise would most likely have told me. In the end I would need to accept whoever my new sibling was with as much happiness as possible, and help my parents so that they did not blunder into the same mistakes they had made with me.

The loud knock at my door caused me to almost jump from the bed, a movement that caused a wince due to the pain. The knock came once more, with enough force that the door itself seemed likely to snap in half, and then there was silence. "I'm coming!" I called out, even though there was a good chance that the person on the other side would not have heard what I said.

By the time I managed to limp my way to the door I half-expected the knocker to have walked away, so when I opened the door my shock at the person in front of me was warranted. The fact that it was my father who stood in front of me only compounded the degree of shock I felt, indeed it seemed like the day could not stop throwing shocks at me.

"Evening," he told me, though he did not say anything further.

"Um...evening, father," I responded, my voice meek enough that it was obvious I was both shocked and perhaps scared to see him in front of me. There was not a single time in my entire life I had ever seen him at the door to my room, if either of my parents wished to speak with me I always had to go to them. "Can I help you?"

For a while he stared at me, and then he slowly lifted up his right hand and gently placed it on my head. To call it gentle is perhaps wrong, the way it looked was most definitely a gentle and soft approach of the hand with no haste nor strength behind it. However when he placed his hand on my head the power he generated from it was enough to make me sag down half an inch, and even my neck muscles screamed out in protest at the force applied to them.

"You've done a good job," he simply told me, as he rubbed my head for a few seconds and then lifted it away. The powerful hand returned to his side, while he looked at me in silence again, and then nodded his head. "Don't worry about Rudicus."

How many words had I heard my father speak in the totality of my life? If you discounted the words he had spoken during combat, as he barked out orders to save peoples lives, it would take me perhaps two or three minutes to recount the amount. The whole series of events made me wonder if his mind had been broken due to too many years of fighting the Plague. "Are you okay?" I finally asked of him, worried that something was horribly wrong.

The smile Vandross Rose directed at me would have melted a glacier, it was a soft and extremely warm view to witness. In all the years my mother had been married to him I had never understood why, and yet with that singular smile the mystery began to unravel. "I'm fine, go to bed, Liliana," he told me before he turned and walked down the hallway.

It was an abrupt departure, yet it was perhaps the most normal part of the entire exchange we had that night. Out of my entire life it would prove to be one of the two times my father had demonstrated his feelings toward me openly, and the other would not come until two years later. Even as he walked away I could only stare in confusion, and then slowly close the door.

That night was the first time I went to bed and did not think about how I was a failure to my father, in truth it would be the first in many nights when I fell asleep with a smile on my face. While the emotional wounds I had gained during my youth would forever mark my heart, my father had unknowingly helped in alleviating some of the pain.

It would also be the first time I ever fell asleep and felt a tugging at my soul, a whisper in my ear. Even though I was so far away I could hear the words in my ear clearly, and before I fully fell asleep I responded.

"Good night, Taryn."