Carissimo Verano,

It was the longest trip of my life but I am finally gonna see you again! Don't get your hopes up, ragazzo: I'm coming with vengeance in my heart! Why you forced me to come to this rainy, cold, miserable island that they call the Grave of Empires? The only good thing here seems to be that one salesman's cabbage... And it was still horrible! Not only you break your promise to come back to see the first snow with me, but also make me come after you! Do you take me for a desperate damsel, Verano? Hah! You bet you'll have to pay me back for this! Double!

I'm not the only person who wants to see you, though. Father brought Il Pugno Lombardo (The Lombardian Fist) all the way from the Duchy to rescue you and Arnaud. Uncle Mario is sadly not here because a Spirit injured him during a hunt, but many other Duchy's knights have come! King Heinrich of Aachen also donated some of his knights along with some of Alba's defenders to help us. Yet I can't help but feel afraid.

I'm writing two copies of this letter - one for me and one for Giovanni to deliver - in case the worst happens. The fog thickens as we approach the Black Hills south to the River Tummel. We keep hearing whispers from the mist, and the lowborn soldiers grow ever more paranoid. They scream like little girls whenever someone stumbles...

I just want to let you know that whenever I get lost in this fog, my thought of you never lets me lose my way. I’ll find you, and I’ll take care of you.

La tua Marzia.

Spring 991. The Black Hills, Alba. South of Edïm. 

--------------------------------------------

"T-This is so romantic!" Said Candorra with a tear crawling out of her helmet as she read Marzia's letter. "Worth a poem!”

"Wait, this is personal!" Grunted Giovanni, Verano's architect friend. He stretched his arm to retrieve the papyrus. "Give me back!"

"No, it's not!" She pulled the letter away from the boy's reach. "The Princess does not care about you, pretty boy! Only about Verano and the fatty Arnaud. Unlike-"

"She told me to deliver this to Verano in case something bad happened, okay?" He yanked the letter from her hands and hid the papyrus in his armor. "You shouldn't spy! Miseria (Damn it), I should've warned the Duke that you were sneaking--"

"Keep silent, stoltos (Stupid)!" Shouted a Fire Knight. His horse rode on their left flank. "You have a death wish?"

"W-We apologize!" Faltered Giovanni. "It's that my partner here--"

"No excuses! This place is a death trap," explained the Fire Knight glancing at his surroundings. "Can't you see?"

A forest surrounded the army from the east side and a sea of hills from the west side. Their column of warrior from the Empire of the Holy Flame walked through a barren plain that was not so far from the coast. Knights from the Pugno Lombardo (The Lombardian Fist), Marshal Duke Arnaud de Sforza's vassal knights, led the front of the column while the dismounted lowborn warriors like Giovanni occupied the center. Two hosts of horsemen ride on the flanks of the soldiers like a pair of metal wings.

Candorra and Giovanni exchanged sights and sealed their lips. Yet their silence was pointless. The soldiers' feet shook the earth like drums. The sunlight bounced from their armors, escaped the mist, and denounced their position to anyone who had eyes.

Two Northmen ships watched from the coast. An observer bended water to form lenses that allowed him to watch their enemies from closer.

"They're about to cross the Tummel," said the Northman. He referred to the river that the Knights would have to pass to reach Edïm. "This is it. Tell the boss it's time."

A sailor nodded at the man and tied a message to pigeon's leg. The animal flew into the clouds and landed on the arm of Hagen, the leader of the Northmen. He waited in his encampmen to the north of the column.

"Let's see," he smirked as he opened the letter, "now this is just wonderful!" He faced his immediate and rose his voice: "Air in the horns and hands on the drums, boys! Today we dye the Black Hills red!"

His war band rose their weapons and chanted. Their combined voices roamed the coast like the moan of a thunder. 

The Battle of the Black Hills, Year of the Guardian 993

"W-What is that?" Recoiled a chorus of a hundred voices in Duke Arnaud de Sforza's column. Their hands tightened around their spears as they looked at the sky hoping to see signs of a storm. "I-Is it gonna rain?"

"No, don't be foolish!" Intervened Candorra. "That's not how thunder sounds like! It was clearly just a thousand people screaming madly and with lust for blood--"

Giovanni covered her mouth.

"Whose side are you on?" He snorted.

"I'm--"

Giovanni saw the reflection of ice darts hailing from the sky in Candorra's helmet. He threw her against the ground to protect her. Ice fell upon the column and harassed the troops.

"W-What's this?" Asked terrified mouths among the warriors. Soldiers collapsed unconscious as the hail touched their helmets.

"Defend yourselves!" Screamed Arnaud de Sforza as he pummeled a flame into the sky and formed an umbrella of fire. He searched his flanks to find the origin of the attack. Yet the fog thickened, and drums echoed from all sides of the Black Hills. The Northmen confused their enemies' senses and spread fear en masse.

"T-They are everywhere!" Screamed a soldier as his companion fell. 

The Duke frowned stern at the growing fear in the column. The soldiers scattered to defend their heads instead of protecting their companions.

"There's no way," he grunted as he faced his own vassals from the Il Pugno Lombardo, "The plebs are wavering. Spread across their lines and form a fire umbrella. Avanti!"

"Avanti!" Replied his horsemen as they dissolved their group to go defend the dismounted plebs.

Yet the silence from Marzia's horse bothered the man. 

"What are you doing?" He yelled at her. Her hands shook and sweated as she held her mount's saddle. She looked at the ground expressionless. "Marzia, wake up!" He insisted.

"D-Dad?" She swung her head.

“You have orders. Weren’t you paying attention?”

"R-Right, I'm on it!" 

She noticed that Giovanni attempted to lift Candorra off the ground. The amount of armor that the Zigana had brought as disguise was far too heavy for her.

"Damn it, why are you so heavy? Argh--" Snorted Giovanni as he yanked the excessive armor off her body.

"I'm not a fatty!" 

"I'm not saying that--"

She saw an icy arrow about to impale the boy's backs. Candorra recoiled:

"Look behind you--"

Marzia's flame melted the ice.

"Defend yourselves, avanti!" She yelled as she formed a fiery umbrella over their heads. The personal knights from Duke Arnaud de Sforza joined her. Their horses drew a mold around the troops as the Fire Knights created a ceiling of flame over their heads.

Yet Giovanni did not hear the girl’s orders. The orange light bouncing from Marzia's cheeks highlighted her beauty and bewitched the boy.

"S-She's dreamy..."

Candorra remained lying on the ground. She closed her eyes and attempted to make sense out of the chaos engulfing the battlefield. She separated the sound of the icy arrows from the screams of the soldiers and the deafening drums of the Northmen. She tracked the sound waves through the fog in order to find the origin of the salvos.

"This is it," her eyes widened as she faced the forest to the Southeast and the hills to the Northwest, "it is coming from there!" She pointed at the two precise directions of the attackers. “You listening, pretty boy?”

"She's dreamy..." Slobbered a still bedazzled Giovanni. He did pull his eyes away of Marzia for a second.

"She is..." Resigned Candorra. Yet sense re-entered her head. She slapped the boy's back. "Snap out of it! You're the smart one, remember? Do the thing!"

"A-Alright!" He rose from the ground and pulled a tube from his vests. He equipped two lenses to the edges of the object and built a telescope. "Hopefully this will work," he aimed the lenses towards the directions that Candorra had pointed. His eyes widened. "We’re surrounded! The Duke must be aware!"

"Yeah, go save the day, pretty boy!" Candorra said with excitement as Giovanni left. "Wait,” she looked left and right and noticed that she was still lying on the ground. “Don't leave me on the ground! They're not gonna hear my music from here!"

The young architect hurried to warn Marshal Duke Arnaud de Sforza, who remained on the front of the column. Giovanni ran through endless lines of panicked soldiers who shook beneath the fire umbrella that the knights had raised. Ice fell from the sky and mauled the ground around the fiery defenses. The column was stuck in its position.

"Porca miseria (Damn it)," Giovanni told himself, "we are really vulnerable here! And these drums, argh--" he rested a hand on his ears, "no one can hear orders like this!"

The warriors from the Empire of the Holy Flame were stunned. A large smile paraded on Hagen's face. He left his encampment and joined his war band at the northern margin of the River Tummel. The pinned down soldier under the fire umbrella were a remarkable sight.

"And I told Svän to prepare an escape plan?" Hagen chuckled. "This is too easy! I did expect the Marshal to put up more of a fight. So foolish of me," he covered his mouth, "But I met the guy's son. I couldn't expect him to be much more than his offspring..."

Hagen walked towards the River Tummel and cut the tip of a finger. A drop of blood fell into the water. The Northman's Ring of Nibel flashed as he moved his arms and the waters contracted. An ice bridge formed upon the river's surface. He took the axe from his waist and rose the voice:

"Cross the river! A chest of gold for whoever brings me the Duke's head, boys! Sign for the Divers to come out of the pond and for the axes to leave the woods," he pointed towards the fire umbrella, "we'll crush their forces from three sides--"

Duke Arnaud de Sforza formed a shiny flaming ball and threw towards the woods. The object shined like a second Sun in the mist.

"Vad är det ljuset? (What is that light?)" Faltered a Northman by Hagen's side.

“Desperation, obviously—”

Voices rose in the languages of the Empire of the Holy Flame to answer the man:

“Attack!”

"Angriff!"

"Charge!"

"Charger!"

"¡Al ataque!"

"Avanti!" Shouted Duke Arnaud de Sforza as he pummeled a cloud of fire to the skies. "Crush the impenitent!"

The Black Hills shook. The drums became silent as a wall of fire rose in the horizon. The sound of thousand hooves echoed across the valley. Flames burned around the spears of the knights of the 4º Pferde von Aachen. Their formation looked as if a jaw of fire was about to swallow the forest.

All eyes narrowed themselves at the charge. Even the diving Northmen, who awaited to attack the column from inside a bond in the column's west flank, rose their heads from the water to contemplate the attack.

"Send them back to their Spirits, männer!” Yelled Count Wenceslaus, the Fire Knight who led the attack. “For the Guardian!”

The knights crushed the forest as if they stepped on grass. The horses passed and only left ashes behind. Their flames destroyed vegetation and enemies alike. A mountain of smoke and ashes rose to the skies. The mist faded as the Waterbenders who had created the fog had collapsed on the ground. Duke Arnaud de Sforza looked at the Northmen who faced him from the other side of the River Tummel. There was no fog to hide their fear.

"W-What are you idiots waiting for?" Snapped Hagen as he pushed a Northman's arm. "I told you to attack!"

"Sure, boss. You go first." Replied a Northman.

"What is this, raider?" Hagen chuckled. "Scared?"

"We just lost three whole hosts out there, boss. Maybe it's that.” The man crossed his arms. “Why not just go back and pick a ship--"

"We still outnumber them 3 to 1! We just gotta be aggressive and this is over!”

“I dunno…”

“Those were Thyra's men! It's good that they are dead!"

"I find it hard that the west flank will attack with us, boss... The fire scum mowed down their people in front of their eyes. It was epic—”

"Of course they will attack! Message our men on the reserve," Hagen began, "tell'em they are authorized to attack any fleeing soldiers."

“Anything for you, boss…” He noticed that Hagen walked towards the column. “B-But where are you going?”

"I'll go show you how it is done." Asserted Hagen. He wore his helmet and crossed the Tummel.

Count Wenceslaus's horsemen had lost speed, yet they still advanced towards the ice bridge that Hagen. They left the ruined forests with confident smiles on their faces.

"That's Hagen, the Red Tide! Let’s see if his blood is blue, lads!" Shouted the Count. He rode at the front of his horsemen with a drawn sword in hand. "Angriff!"

Marshal Duke de Sforza watched the attack with his teeth gritted. 

"Wenceslaus, you idiota! Bring me back my horses!" Said the Duke as Scheherazade, his Lion-Lizard mount, ran towards the battle.

"Angriff!" Insisted Count Wenceslaus. The movement of his horse empowered the fiery aura around his blade.

Hagen smirked at the reckless attack. A drop of his blood touched the ground. His Ring of Nibel shined.

"Die." Said the Northman as he rose his fists. A maze of red ice pillars rose from the ground and hindered the charge.

"Damn it!" Cursed Wenceslaus as his mount lost speed while dodging the pillars. The fire around his sword lost intensity. "Achten (Be aware!), he’s blocking our vision—”

Hagen swung his axe against the Count's chest. The knight fell dead from his horse. 

"Father!" Screamed an approaching Fire Knights with his eyes narrowed at Wenceslaus. "You'll pay for this, unpenitent;" said the man with his spear pointed at the Northman's chest, "attack!"

Two horsemen guarded his flank and joined the small charge.

"Adorable!" Laughed Hagen as he beat both palms together. Two ice pillars collapsed on top of the attacking knights.

More warriors found Hagen in the maze and engaged him. Yet they fell to his axe one by one. The ice maze stopped them from forming groups. They were easy prey for the Northman. Screams echoed in the maze.

"I must do something, argh--" Bemoaned the son of Count Wenceslaus as he crawled from beneath the ice. He rose his head and saw Hagen slaughtering his men. "Y-You’ll die now, heathen!"

The boy unsheathed his blade to avenge his father. Yet Scheherazade's tongue wrapped around his pulse and yanked him away from the icy maze.

“M-My backs, argh—“ Bemoaned the boy as he fell on the grass. He rose his head to face his savior. "M-Marshal?"

"Don't let your stupidity make a death in vain.” Shouted Duke Arnaud with his eyes narrowed at the maze.

The ice melted and revealed a gasping Hagen standing around a field of bodies. He looked back towards his men waiting behind the River Tummel:

"That's how it is done. Attack!"

Hagen's warband crossed the river with large smiles on their faces. The troops that awaited on the west descended upon Duke Arnaud’s formation. The diving Northmen sprung out of the pond and attacked the infantry at the heart of the column. Ice arrows rained from the sky once again.

Marzia rode towards Duke Arnaud's side.

"F-Father!” She rose her voice. “T-They are coming from three directions! W-What do we do?"

The Duke ignored her. Scheherazade took a step ahead and stretched its tongue towards the ice bridge that Hagen had built.

"You better run..." Remarked Duke Arnaud as he blew a cloud of fire at his mount's tongue. His flames ignited a substance that surrounded Scheherazade's taste buds. The animal's tongue became like a fiery whip that ignited the grass on the plain. His flames kept Hagen's War band on the other side of the River Tummel.

"Marzia!" Shouted the Duke as he threw his clan's blade towards her. "You are in charge now--"

She recoiled. Her shoulders shook as if she could feel the weight of her responsibility on her backs. Yet the man continued:

"Your orders are to get all the men there." He pointed towards a hill to the south. “Even you can do that, right?”

"R-Retreat? B-B-But Verano..." She clenched his fists. The thought of not seeing him again consumed Marzia.

"Are you listening or not?" His scream interrupted. "We are not going to win as long as they are choosing the battlefield. Let that idiot serve as an example," he glanced towards Wenceslaus's corpse lying by Hagen's side, “you want to end like his son?”

"A-Alright, I’ll do it," she nodded reluctantly. "But you?"

"I’m off to test a theory." Said the Duke as Scheherazade charged against Hagen.

Marzia swung her head and turned her horse around. She stared at the column and saw that the diver troops engaged the heart of the army. More Northmen reinforcements descended from the west to assist them.

"Don't cower!" Ordered the girl as she pummeled a fire cloud against the sky. "We have the advantage for a couple minutes! I want oily arrows!"

She rose her head towards the Alba's bowmen who waited patiently behind the column. They rose their bows and fired a rainbow of arrows towards the divers who rose from the pond. Marzia jumped out of her horse and kicked a cloud of fire towards the sky. Her flames were warm enough to ignite the oil that engulfed the arrows. They descended upon the divers like a fiery hammer.

Her attack set the Divers' coats on fire.

"Stop the attack, argh--" Yelled their leader as he bended water out of the pond to heal his men. Yet the flames had interrupted their charge.

Marzia's infantry gained confidence. The lowborn soldiers charged en masse at the recovering divers. Their leader ran back to the pond:

"Retreat!"

Candorra laughed while she played the harp. No one had lifted her from the ground yet:

"After them!" She yelled at the infantry. "It'll make a better story--"

Marzia pulled her from the grass and sat her on the back of her horse. Candorra moaned in pain:

"Ouch, my arm--"

"Don't pursue them!" Ordered Marzia. "Towards the hill, follow me!"

"Wait, Princess!" Yelled Giovanni as he pursued her horse. "Help me too..."

The horsemen from Il Pugno Lombardo gathered around the girl. Their backs hid her from the young architect's sight. 

Marzia's forces ran towards the hill and formed a defense line. She quickly understood her father's orders: there were only two natural ways to climb the hill. The Northmen's numbers lost value as an advantage.

"They are stopping..." Sighed Marzia with her sights laid upon the horde of Northmen. They waited on the plains instead of attacking. She looked back and saw that her men were as exhausted from running as their enemies were. The column’s orders were to form an encampment and build defenses for a second day of battle.

Yet Giovanni did not obey her orders. He had his telescope’s lenses planted on Hagen. The boy asked himself:

"What in the world is the Duke doing? Is he getting captured on purpose--"

"Scusami. (Excuse me)," said Marzia as she pulled the machine from his eyes and attempted to see her father. “H-How does this cosa (thing)…”

"You must close one eye to make it work, princess."

Marzia followed his orientation saw her father standing in front of Hagen. The Duke spoke with his enemy while Scheherazade watched.

“I must say,” faltered Duke Arnaud de Sforza, "your style of Waterbending is..."

"Overwhelming?" Suggested Hagen. "Unique? Impressive--"

"Familiar.” Said the Duke as his enemy's smile collapsed. "You mix your own blood to make water function as precisely as an extension of your body. I've only heard of one family that has developed this skill…”

"Where are you trying to get to, Marshal?” Hagen bit off his green apple. “I'm sure you'd not get yourself caught just to bother me with you theories--"

"You don't happen to be a bastard from King Gottfried of Litvia, do you?" He referred to Litvia, a Waterbending confederation of tribes that converted to the Penitent Faith and joined the Empire of the Holy Flame as an Elector-Kingdom.

The Northman touched Duke Arnaud's throat with the tip of his axe.

"Say those words and they'll be the last one you'll ever say, Marshal..."

The Duke smirked. He glanced towards Scheherazade. His lizard was supposed to save him if he caught himself in peril. The Marshal’s lips moved on their own as he heard his enemy’s challenge:

"You are not a real Northman--"

Hagen swung his weapon at Arnaud's face. Yet the Fire Knight channeled all the fire inside him and breathed a cloud of fire so hot that the metal in his opponent's hand glowed.

"Argh--" Agonized Hagen as he fell on his knees. His face burned intensely.

His war band surrounded the Duke. The Northmen tied his gasping body and his mouth. Yet Arnaud's pupils remained active and he planted his sights firmly upon the Ring of Nibel. He noticed that although Hagen agonized and was unable to bend, the jewel shined and lifted water from the ground to heal the man.

“As I feared...” Rustled the Duke to himself.

"I-I was just gonna kill you, old man. But now, argh--" Hagen groaned in pain. "I'll make you all suffer. You, your son, your daughter; you'll all pay--"

Marzia recoiled away from the telescope. She fell on her knees.

"A-Are you alright, princess?" Asked Giovanni. "Everyone's waiting your orders.”

“F-Father is not gonna come…”

“Princess?” Faltered the boy. “You know what to do, right?"

Tears fell on her thighs. Her armor reflected the faces of all the people whose survival depended her. She did not have Verano to share the weight with her, and Arnaud was not there to distract her from the pain. Marzia rose her head towards the plains. All that she saw was a horde that could descend upon her troops at any moment.

"I-I can’t do this alone..." She sobbed undecided. Her fists clenched. She knew that her mistakes would cost blood. "I need Verano."

The wind carried her words to the North.

Verano recoiled as he faced the direction from Marzia's voice. His heart tightened.

"Something wrong, White Wolf?" Asked Thyra. She sat with him on the backs of Ness, the baby Sea Serpent. The animal also faced the boy, worried.

Verano swung his head and glared at Edïm, the Western Water Tribe. They had finally arrived to recapture the city and free his friends.

"Nothing’s wrong," replied the boy as he frowned at the map that Marzia had given to him in the day that he left the Duchy of Sforza, "I've never felt closer to where I must be."