“No, you’re not coming with me this time!” Linea hissed, as she and Nora walked through the city surrounded by her guards. “End of discussion!”

“We have talked about this before,” Nora argued, but switched to a whispering tone. “You need me! Especially with Sarah being… unavailable.”

Linea stopped in her tracks and looked Nora deep in the eyes.

“Don’t you dare using Sarah for this… non-existing discussion.”

The two girls had argued the whole night about this problem. And the night before. And the night before that night. Linea had decided she would leave Taldira only when the mages had repaired the city wall provisionally. At least that had been her official statement on that topic. The truth was, she had hoped for Sarah the wake up in the meantime.

But time was running out.

“I told you over and over again, I’m sending you and Aruna back to Luna’sindranar. Neither Taldira nor Avandir are safe enough, and just like Senia, you are the heir to a title. I know you don’t like it, but I have to make this decision for the good of Luna’sindra.”

“But what about you?” Nora asked and took Linea’s hand. “You can’t to this alone…”

Linea rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away from Nora.

“I’m fine on my own,” Linea said. “Also, I’ve got Evira with me. She can protect me.”

Nora wanted to discuss this further, but as they reached the keep, Lalana intercepted them.

“Your Grace, we…” she started Linea raised her hand to interrupt her.

“I told you call me Linea,” she said with a smile which Lalana matched.

“I’m sorry, reflex.”

“Don’t worry,” Linea said. “You wanted something?”

“Yes, My La- I mean, Linea,” Lalana said and blushed faintly. “We searched everywhere for Sir Fenandir, but to no avail. Witnesses claim he fought near the wall where… you know… it happened.”

Linea sighed ant looked into the sky. After the fight she hadn’t spared even a thought about the meddlesome knight, but when she had a bit of downtime and tried to decide, who to take with her to Avandir, she remembered him again. But Fenandir was nowhere to be found.

Now she realized why.

“All right, thank you for your help, Lalana,” Linea said. “If that’s the case, I should be on my way. I’ll leave tomorrow evening.”

Later that night, everyone of Linea’s entourage met in Lalana’s library.

“All right, now that we’re all gathered let’s begin this short meeting,” Linea announced. “I’m sure word got out already that we’re at war. Our older sister is the current queen regent until we have confirmed our mother’s death or freed her. In any case, I have been ordered to ride towards Avandir, while Senia will depart for Luna’sindranar. I called you because we need to split up.”

Everyone looked at her and awaited her next words. Linea had expected a little more protest.

“Senia’s group will consist of Senia, Aruna, Nora and my maid Minara. There won’t be any discussion,” she added seeing the forming disagreement on said persons’ faces. “Minara will take most of my stuff back to Luna’sindranar. I will only take my armor dress and my Fulchar with me. It’s a long ride and we need to ride fast.”

“Why didn’t you depart earlier?” Senia asked with crossed arms.

“For reasons you don’t need to know, dear sister. And don’t even think about sneaking off again to follow me. Tarina gave you a direct order.”

Senia murmured something, but Linea didn’t care enough to ask her about it.

“Evira, it’s your call who do you want to escort.”

“I would like to follow you, My Lady,” Evira said with a bow. “But my duty is to protect the higher-ranking member of the royal family in this time of peril.”

Linea nodded and tried to hide her disappointment. She knew Evira was right, and Senia’s safety had the higher priority at the moment, but she had to admit that she had grown accustomed to the fierce Guard’s captain.

“A wise decision,” Linea just commented and focussed back on the other people in the room. “I will take the cavalry of Taldira with me into war. The rest will stay here to defend the city. We don’t know which and how many Torra still lurk out there, and I won’t leave the city without defenders.”

“I will come with you,” Lalana said with a smile, but Linea didn’t share the smile this time.

“I’m sorry, but no,” Linea said. “We’ll talk about that later. But apart from that I need one volunteer to lead the cavalry in battle.”

“I can do it, My Lady,” Lady Talura said and stood up.

“I could do it too, My Lady,” Nora’s sister Tira said and rose as well.

Linea looked between the women. “All right, you stay behind afterwards with Lalana.”

After discussing a few more minor things, the group dispersed. Linea waited until everyone had left beside Tira, Talura and Lalana.

“All right!” she said and clapped her hands. “Talura, I respect you and your leadership skills. And for that reason, I would like you to stay here and help Lalana. I fear for this city more than I fear for Avandir. When we meet with the army, I don’t think they’ll need an additional military advisor. But Lalana does. Can you do that for me?”

Lady Talura bowed.

“Of course, My Lady,” she said and puffed her chest. “Your wish is my command.”

“Perfect,” Linea replied and looked at Lady Tira. “I hope you don’t mind that I’m sending your sister back to Luna’sindranar.”

“Not at all,” Lady Tira said. “I can’t think of a better place for her to be in a war.”

Linea nodded to that statement.

“And you feel up to the task leading Lalana’s men into battle?”

“Of course, or else I wouldn’t have volunteered.” Lady Tira answered and winked at Linea.

“Thank you,” Linea said and patted Tira on the shoulder. “Now if you’d excuse us, Lalana and I have things to discuss.”

Talura and Tira made a curtsy and left.

Linea finally took the liberty and sat down on a comfy arm chair. Lalana sat down on a couch beside her.

“I really would’ve liked to follow you,” Lalana said and frowned.

“That’s nice of you, but like I said the city is still in danger. Possibly…”

Linea stopped and looked at Lalana.

“You hid your freckles again,” she stated.

Lalana blushed, but chuckled. “Yes, I have.”

“But they were cute,” Linea said with a frown.

“As you have told me before,” Lalana noticed. “But this is not about my freckles. Is there any way I can convince you to take me with you? I’ve never seen someone so wise in our age group. No one with your battle prowess.”

“You’re flattering me,” Linea said and turned away to hide her embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, I’ll stop…”

“Well, I didn’t say it’s bad.”

Lalana paused for a second but then chuckled.

“Lalana, I really like you and I think we could become good friends, but…”

“But duty calls, doesn’t it?” Lalana completed.

“Yes,” Linea admitted. “You have a city to protect and I have a call to arms to follow. Perhaps I can visit you here in Taldira as soon as this war is over?”

“Of course, I would be happy to have you here!” Lalana said with a big smile on her face.

The next evening came faster than Linea liked. She still had hoped for Sarah to wake up before she went off to Avandir, but to her dismay, Sarah still was unconscious.

Her escort already awaited her. They had briefly entertained the idea of a joined caravan until they reached Enidara, where they could have split off, but Senia’s group would be slower as they had more material to transport, because of Linea’s stuff among others.

Aruna was the first to say goodbye to Linea.

“Try to keep practicing your healing,” Aruna said and pulled Linea into a hug. “Shouldn’t be too hard to do in a war.”

Linea smiled about Aruna’s crude humor.

“I’ll try not to disappoint you,” she said and returned the hug. She then pulled a book out of her bag. It was the journal of Saria. “Can you please return this to High Priestess Nasinia? Even though I’m not completely done reading it, I feel uncomfortable carrying it with me any further into a war. I already think it wasn’t a good idea to bring it here in the first place.”

Aruna looked at the book.

“Looks old,” she commented.

“It is,” Linea confirmed. “And it’s invaluable. Keep it safe!”

“I will,” Aruna said. “And you greet your sister from me. Tell her, the fiery firebird wishes the old crow all the luck she needs.”

“What is it with you and your strange nicknames?” Linea asked and rolled her eyes.

“That? Oh, it comes from our time back at the university. We were four noble girls bored out of our minds in the evenings. Since we couldn’t just go around and have fun with boys like all the others… we had fun with each other instead.”

Linea went violet faster than a lighting hits the earth.

“Wh- wh- what?” Linea stuttered.

“Wait, Tarina didn’t tell you?” Aruna asked and raised an eyebrow.

“No, she didn’t!” Linea cried out. “And I’m not sure if I wanted to know!”

Aruna snorted and patted Lineas head.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get over it… little crow.”

Linea boxed Aruna on the shoulder.

The next one to see her off was Lalana.

“Please, be safe!” Lalana simply said and hugged Linea just as Aruna had before. But this time, Linea felt somewhat hotter. She returned the hug quickly.

“You too. I’d hate to… hear something happened to you,” Linea said and avoided Lalana’s eyes. She wondered why it had gotten so hot here suddenly.

“Well, I’m not the one going into war,” Lana said. “But in all honesty. Please don’t do something stupid. Look out for yourself.”

Lalana gave her a small kiss on the forehead.

“For good luck,” Lalana explained as Linea blushed.

“Right.”

The last ones coming to her were Senia and Evira.

“Never take of your eyes off my sister,” Linea said to Evira, who bowed in agreement, which resulted in a loud groan from Senia. “Don’t you dare to groan at me. You brought this upon yourself.”

Senia rolled her eyes, but Linea didn’t mind it. She had somehow come to accept her sister being just as stubborn and headstrong as she was. She pulled Senia into a hug.

“Be safe, sister,” she whispered. “If everything goes to shit, you’ll be queen.”

Senia hesitated but returned the hug, eventually.

“I don’t want to be the queen,” she murmured.

“Neither do I.”

Their travel to Avandir was surprisingly uneventful. It took them only six days in which they stopped only for sleeping and eating. They were reinforced in Enidara by stragglers of the army who followed the main army down south. On their way to Avandir they came upon multiple places where the army had rested, but ultimately their group only reached the army near Avandir. They had built a big fortified encampment. When they neared the camp, a small detachment greeted them to confirm their identity.

Linea was led to the biggest tent in the camp. The Royal Guard in front of it saluted her, to which Linea respectfully nodded. Inside she found to her surprise not only Tarina and Shandir but also Tovandir.

“Linea! You’re here!” Terina said and greeted her not only with a hug, but she also lifted her and whirled her around. “I was so worried about you and Senia.”

“I’m all right,” Linea just said. When her sister let her down, she greeted Shandir with a hug.

“It has been way too long, big brother,” she said and snuggled herself against him.

“That’s true,” he admitted and rubbed her head. “And what did I hear about one of my sisters getting blessed without telling me?”

“I wrote you a letter!” Linea defended herself, but also let her mark glow.

Shandir examined her forehead intensely.

“I’m proud of you,” he said with a smile.

Her gaze fell on her oldest brother and her smile froze. He looked sick and had some bandages around his head. Also, one of his arms was in a sling.

“What happened to you?” she asked and sat down beside him on the little couch he lay on.

“Humans,” he just said.

“Can I get a little more than that?” Linea asked and looked at her siblings. “And also take of those bandages. I can heal you.”

“No,” he said as firmly as he could. “Like I told the healers: We need that strength in the coming fights. I will head back to Luna’sindranar either way to oversee the conscriptions. I’ll get myself patched up there.”

Linea threw Tarina an inquisitive look, but she only shrugged.

“If you’re sure…” Linea said. “But tell me what happened.”

“They ambushed us halfway to Myrana,” Tovandir explained. “It was a complete disaster. They killed Suvira and her men, overwhelmed our forces and took Mother as a hostage. Father as well, but politically Mother is the bigger issue.”

“So, they are still alive?” Linea said full of hope.

“They were the last time I saw them.”

“What happened to you?” Linea asked and laid her hand on his shoulder.

“They captured me as well,” he told them. “The humans have invented something like anti-magic shackles. They suppress one’s control over his own mana. They killed nearly all two thousand men of the Royal Army on the spot. They captured the servants and put them in cages in their camp. Besides me, Mother, Father and them, they left no one alive.”

Linea put her hand over her mouth. She knew humans were barbaric, but this was unbelievable.

“How… How did you escape?”

“When they broke camp, they put me in a carriage with some surviving women of the Royal Guard. Shortly after they started moving, we passed a makeshift bridge over a small stream where the carriage slipped off and smashed into the streambed. My shackles broke somehow, and I yelled at the guards to run. We came pretty far, but then spells from their mages rained down on us. The guards protected me with their lives and with using the rest of my mana, I escaped.”

“Those damn bastards!” Linea said and Shandir nodded in agreement.

“I still don’t understand how the humans managed all that. How did they ambush the Royal Army? What were our scouts doing?”

“The answer to that are beastmen,” Tovandir said with a grim face. “I saw them at the camp. I think they were mercenaries.”

“Beastmen?” Linea asked surprised. “But they hate the humans even more than we do.”

“I… I don’t know. Perhaps the emperor made a deal which they couldn’t deny? I would put it past him to abduct and enslave their families just to force them to do his bidding,” Tovandir explained.

They were silent for a moment until Tarina looked at Linea.

“And you killed a dark mage?” she asked.

“Not quite,” Linea said. “He blew himself up, I took the energy of that blast and killed a Void dragon with it.”

Her siblings looked disbelievingly at her.

“What?” Linea asked. “I wouldn’t have gone, if I didn’t think I could defeat him.”

“A Void dragon?” Tarina asked. “There has never been a Void dragon since the Great Cataclysm!”

“Yeah, and it was no fun fighting that.”

“All right, let’s put that aside from now,” Tarina said and shook her head. “How can you help in this fight? How far do your new powers go?”

“They go nowhere right now,” Linea said and crossed her arms. She quickly thought about telling her siblings about Sarah, but she hesitated to do so without Sarah’s consent.

“What do you mean?” Tovandir asked and straightened himself.

“I… overextended my powers to deal with the dark mage and the dragon. They still haven’t recovered yet,” Linea admitted. “But I can still heal people. So, I suggest putting me with the other healers.”

Tarina nodded and looked at Shandir.

“Can you show her around? The Sisterhood of Saria has their tents on the northern part. We will wait for the humans to make their move. They already reached the city but didn’t capture it. They will have to attack us into a defensive position or attack the city. Both cases leave them open for attacks into the rear from either us or the cities’ defenders.”

“All right, I’ll show Linea around,” he said and smiled at Linea. “We can catch up on some things on the…”

But he didn’t come further as a messenger entered the tent and greeted the with a bow.

“Your Royal Highnesses,” the messenger said. “The human general asks for a parley. They will meet our delegation halfway between our camps on the field.”

Tarina furrowed her brows.

“That’s unexpected,” she said.

“I guess they want to coerce us into surrendering the city in exchange for the queen,” Shandir suspected. “We shouldn’t give in. Mother wouldn’t want us.”

Tarina nodded, but Tovandir gave them another thought.

“But we should still listen to what they want,” he argued. “At least it is common courtesy. We’re not so barbaric to decline a parley. We don’t need to accept if we don’t want to.”

“He’s right,” Linea agreed. “And as I see it, I should go.”

“What?” Tarina and Shandir exclaimed.

“She is right,” Tovandir supported her and looked at Tarina. “Shandir is our acting general, you are the queen regent and I’m in no shape to negotiate. That leaves only Linea.”

“And, if the humans are courteous enough to ask for a parley, I don’t expect them to ignore the most basic rules of courtesy,” Linea added.

Tarina didn’t seem to like the idea, but the logic was firm.

The humans awaited Linea at sunrise in the grassy fields between their camps. A man in a full plate armor, but without a helmet greeted Linea and her two guards. His quite feminine looking long blond hair fell down his back. His two guards had the same steel armor with lion motifs and closed helmets.

“Greetings, Young Lady…” he said and waited for her to introduce herself.

“I’m Princess Linea of Luna’sindra,” Linea said with a harsh voice. “And you have trespassed our country’s border without permission or a declaration of war. You also have taken our queen as a prisoner. I accepted this parley in representation of Queen Regent Tarina. What are your terms of releasing our queen and king?”

“Oh, you’re rather outspoken for such a young girl,” the man said with a smile. “My name is Prince Tanus Seranus, brother of the emperor of the Seven Holy Kingdoms. Our conditions are rather simple. You surrender this city to us, your army will be disarmed and taken into the empire as work or sex slaves. Depending on who wants to buy them.”

Linea face got a deep violet shade.

“And here I thought, there would be a chance to discuss things politely, but as I see it, there is no sense in discussing with apes.”

“Careful, young princess,” Tanus said. “You’re making me angry, and you don’t want me angry.”

“I want you dead,” Linea said with a low voice. “But that has to wait, as you’re protected by the courtesy of the parley.”

Linea turned Minu around and motioned her guards to follow her.

“The fight will commence at noon,” Tanus yelled after her.