I woke up late. I checked the sunlight filtering through the cracks in the window shutters and it was at least two hours after sunrise. I sat up and remembered what happened yesterday. The envoy, the Enshi and then chaos. The town was falling apart and I picked up four more kids to look after. Awesome.

I had to act. Too little time. I opened the window and saw smoke. Oh, not only falling apart but also burning up. I need to act. Time to set the LAN up again. I prepare, brush my teeth with ash-tasting water and climb to the roof. I need to talk to Abil-Kisu. I prepare Dime with the smartphone and send the eagle on his way. I guide him to fly over the city and check how extensive was the fire damage. Entire city blocks burned. Not many blocks, but where the fire took hold, all was lost.

I tried to see the refugee situation. Dime flew over the southern exit and down about ten kilometers. A lot of wagons and people on foot going that way. Then a fly-by and the south-eastern villages, then the east and around to see the northern plateau. To the north, the situation is dire. Thousands of people are moving through the north road. Maybe they can make it, there's strength in numbers. North-west, I see the rock and then I tell him to fly to the south-west and see if he can find the invading army. Dime rises up hundreds of meters. I can see the mountains and a black stain on the land.

There they are. The armies of prince xXxScorchUrCountrysidexXx. Forty thousand people is a freaking lot of people. There are at least four thousand horses. Chariots. The supply train has hundreds of wagons. They are building a road as they go. And leaving everything behind them destroyed. For two hundred meters on each side of the path they march on, nothing remained untouched. Tree stumps and trampled dirt.

Yes, that army reaches our walls, we are done for. I call Dime back. The links are barely holding. Both the magical and the technological. I'm getting artifacts in the video feed. I'll have to get the phone back to retrieve the full footage.

Some people fire arrows at Dime but he is too high. I urge him to go higher and come back. I think the one week estimate was right, but a month to build siege weapons? Bullshit. They can storm the walls, ram the gates and there's little we can do. Dime returns and goes down to weave between the smoke plumes. A lot of our army deserted.

One thing that impressed me was the size of the city. It is big enough to have some fields inside the walls. The caravanserai, for example, has some annexes at the back where there's even a gladiatorial arena. There are a lot of satellite villages too. Dozens of them.

Dime comes, flies over our home and goes to Abil-Kisu's estate. he lands on a tree. I can see the merchant lord sitting in his Pavillion with a lot of his advisors. One of them whispers in his ear and he stands up to go meet with the bird.

He approaches the bird perched on a low branch with his hands held forward. "Miss Rinaldi. Are you listening to me?"

"Yes, I am, honorable Abil-Kisu. I sent Bloodstone surveying the area. I must say, things are dire. I can see thousands filing to leave through the north gate. They will take a long time to cross the grass plateau. They are taking everything they can, even livestock."

He was surprised but his admirable mental resilience overcame his feelings and he showed a laser-like focus. His words were as if it was a trivial matter. As if he had all under control.

"They will fall prey either to those that will take everything they have to offer the illusion of protection or to robbery. I imagine a lot of them will convert to larceny along the way. I froze all my assets. I am not sending anything outside the city."

"To be honest, if I could take everyone with me I'd go too. But I can't. Some are too stubborn to leave. Abil-Kisu, we need to gather everyone we can. To think together, to see what I saw earlier today from the motion pictures. Where can we find a room that can be darkened enough?"

"There must be one in the palace. We can hang thick canvas over the windows if need be. Do you want us to convey now?"

"Yes. I have a proposal for you. Let's join forces. You have your newborn son, I have a lot of children to protect. Let me move my people into your estate so our guards can work together to keep everyone safe."

"Are you sure? It will leave your house open to looting."

"That is not a concern for me. I can secure everything of value in the house, and that is just Hama-Tula's wine collection. Let's do it like this. Send your men here to get the wine and I gift it all to you."

He laughs. "It shall be done. I'll go to your home with some guards, we join and go together, what do you say."

"I say let's not waste time. How are your food stores?"

"Even with your household... how many people do you have?"

"Twelve guards, sixteen children, two men and for women. Eleven horses."

"No problem at all. We will be invaded before I run out of food or feed. I also have a lot of stored water. Enough for more than a couple months."

"Then it is settled. Let's get this show on the road!"

He clapped his hands, waved goodbye at the bird and went back to his men, shouting orders. Dime took off and returned. I packed everything up and went to talk to the people.

"Attention, everyone. Pack up your things, we are going to stay with Abil-Kisu for added safety."

I go around the house and the guard barracks, making sure everyone knows what to do. At the pantry, I summon the camping tent and fill it with our provisions. We had food for fourteen days. There is another source of nutrition that might help keep us up for longer. Even though by the time we run out of food we either solved the problem or are marching into doom. I go to the bamboo grove and use Decompose to cut off the stalks of bamboo.

I won't be caught without food in storage anymore. There's that too. I'll store the cushions of the sitting room too. Stuff my sleeping bag with them.

"We are going to take the bamboo with us. Load the upper deck of the carriage with as much bamboo as we can."

Nobody complained. They had very little personal belongings anyway. I go to the gate and meet Abil-Kisu, I ask Belle to guide them to raid the wine cellar. Now the only thing worthy of note in the house is the uranium encased in lead.

Everyone will go on foot. I mount Penny and give them one last piece of advice.

"Take care, everyone, and remember to be understanding. We are going back home soon, once we deal with the attacking army. Abil-Kisu, let's go."

We ride through the streets. Abil-Kisu brought three guards and one advisor with him. We go south until we leave our district then turn east toward the garrison. Two riders detach and go find the other important people for the meeting. It took a couple hours, but all the movers and shakers of the city that didn't flee gathered at the palace, making the otherwise spacious conference room cramped. There wasn't even room for enough seats. There were around fifty people in total. I prepared the GoPro on the headband mount to record the whole meeting.

Putting all these people in the same room was a terrible idea. I sat on a corner while I watched the merchants and craftsmen argue about who should ascend to the throne. There was strong support for the nephew but he was a slave now and wouldn't be cleared until he completed his trial. Some shot glares at me as if I was responsible for everything that happened.

I wasn't. I admit I might've been the catalyst, but I didn't provoke or acted to cause the situation. If anything, I'm a victim here. it also didn't escape my perception that There were three women in the whole meeting. Me, a crafter, and a merchant. I also didn't fail to notice that no priests were invited. They excluded the guys entirely.

The endless discussion was getting heated. People wanted the nephew mostly out of spite because they knew who the nephew would favor. I knew also. Himself. I stood up and walked to the curtains to shut them. Unless they saw reality, they would waste their lives arguing. Everyone was talking but nobody was listening.

After I shut the first set of curtains, the complaints started.

"Don't shut the curtains, woman. We don't like the dark as you do!" Some merchant snickered.

I took an enchanted goblin eye from my pocket and went to the middle of the table, balancing it on top of a glass bottle. Then I shut the rest of the curtains while everyone gawked at the luxury light source. After all the curtains were closed, I assembled the projector and played the footage from earlier this morning.

"This, gentlemen, is the state of the city after the panic caused by the Enshi's folly."

"A folly you triggered," a craftsman quipped.

I knew who was a merchant and who was a craftsman because they were on opposite sides of the room. I didn't answer and let the footage play. It was the raw footage, without almost no editing. I cut the part that showed my little mountain, which I was going to obtain the claim to as part of the payment for my services.

"You should pay for that destruction!" Another merchant raised his voice.

"Yes, it is all your fault, woman!"

I made sure to get every speaker on the camera. I'd get back at them later if the town stood. They shot more insults at me and then Dime picked up speed going southwest. Prince ScareUrChildren's army came into view. A huge, forty thousand strong army. Gasps and shouts of indignation. Then the bigots kept spewing their ichor.

"We should tie up that woman and give her to prince Marduk! He will spare us, the town is already pillaged."

"Get her!" Some guy moved. I reached for the iPad and sent it to storage as my fingers brushed it. Another guy was trying to snatch the device. The curtains were thrown open and people started veiled conversations. The blurb was getting louder and angrier, but not loud enough to muffle the sound of weapons drawn.

"Fools!" A guy in chain armor shouted.

I didn't pay him much attention because he was right by Brandon's side and I didn't want people to think I was stealing glances at the captain. But if I had to guess, he was the general, the commander of the army.

"If you can't keep the discussion civil, you have no place in this room," The general roared. His intimidation was the real thing. Even I got goosebumps.

"Milady Rinaldi," Brandon said, "Please tell us your plan to stop that army."

"I propose we evacuate toward the forest to the north. We should vacate the town and move away, taking everyone with us. We can use poison on the wells, one special poison that disappears after a month. The prince's troops will sack an empty city and die of thirst. Then we march back home and retake the city."

It was total bullshit, of course. But I couldn't trust the people in this room. How many of them were spies? How many of them would turn and work with the prince for benefits later? Even the nephew they wanted so badly to put in power was already sold out.

"I approve that plan," Abil-Kisu said. "My men are preparing to depart as we speak. We leave in three days at dawn. Marduk won't force his army and by the distance we measured, it would take them a week to set camp by our walls."

The trustworthy people were warned that the evacuation plan was fake beforehand. This would cause the skittish and the betrayers to move, as they would surely try to get this information to prince iTrampleTrees.

"You are dismissed, miss Rinaldi. Thank you for your inestimable cooperation," The general told me.

I left. The room behind me flared alive as if millions of brain cells suddenly cried out and died. I was not made for politics. Honestly, I was not made for doing the things I was doing in that world. Sometimes it felt like an out-of-body experience. I was not mindful enough of my actions. Like when I let Zinwa-Seli keep that slaver's coin pouch.

My conscience would not let me sit idle. The accusations from both sides of the table hurt me even though I tried to avoid showing that. I did not think I was at a fault, they were the ones that came after me, I hadn't even seduced them or anything like that. I wish I could just dismiss it as 'men chasing skirts' but people died. A city went up in flames because of me. Just because I exist and some stupid Prince decided to make me his property.

I stifle a chuckle when I think what Theresa would say about it. "What? Daaaamn girl. A city went up in flames just because you were too hot? That's my girl." That innocent remark disregarded the issues that came along with a burning city, like refugees, lost livelihoods, and death.

I knew that moment that I had to put a stop to it. Even if I had to kill Prince BargainBinGals. You don't know what you had in you all along until the world goes up in flames. I'm sorry grandpa, I might become a murderer.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I walked through the palace to the stables where Penny was waiting for me. I had a mission to do and very little time. It was already noon, and the way to my target was perilous and long. I mounted and patted the mare's neck.

"We are riding into a dragon's mouth, Honey Cake," I whispered to her. She snorted.

Penny wanted to run. So I let her. We ran out of the palace gates and into the mostly abandoned streets. I looked behind and saw no new fires. At least that. I rode east and left through the city gates. Once outside, things started to get complicated. A lot of refugees moved down the road that led to the next village. It was complicated to move and I feared I would only reach the village at night.

Without much choice, I broke out of the street and had Penny jump over a fence and into someone cabbage fields to the north of the road. Or what was left of it. The field was trampled and cabbage leaves were tossed everywhere. The refugees that departed in the morning must've pillaged the field. The waste was astonishing. I could imagine peasants fighting for a head of cabbage. I spurred Penny ahead.

I moved through the fields and small copses of trees, keeping the road in sight. Once I found a thinning in the crowd, Penny changed directions and crossed the road, moving to the south. From there we jumped from farm to farm until we reached a forested hill that had no claim. When I say forest, I meant something like a rocky savanna but with more trees. The vegetation was dry and yellowed. I could see some sturdy critters more suited to a desert, like geckos sunbathing on rocks. Penny ran without fear, deftly avoiding obstacles.

Soon we were joined by Dime. Thanks to his aerial surveys, I had a pretty decent map of the region and during the afternoon I rode around the city and towards the marching army.

Night came and we kept moving, slowly. I had to cross the southern road in a place where no refugees could see us. I used the night vision goggles to scout and after a couple hours, we found a dry patch of road that had nobody around. We crossed and moved for another hour before making camp.

I removed Penny's saddle and brushed her. She was tired but happy. Dime perched on a nearby tree and went to sleep quickly. I sat down on a rock and wished I had a mug of coffee. In the pitch-black darkness, there was nothing to see. Not a single dot of light on the land, and only the sea of stars above. If it were not for the lingering smoke from the city fires, the night would be marvelous. I laid down on my bedroll and closed my eyes to sleep.

I knew my animals would keep me safe.