Finley Cai Aies Regalis-Olcay May 23rd,20XX

“Remember to keep your shield up, your highness.”

“But I could help-“

“It wasn’t necessary your highness. Focus on keeping your magic as stable as possible and keep that shield up.”

Her cold voice stabbed into my ear and almost made me suggest we should just go back to Galen’s saddle and wait for the battle to end.

Almost.

She was mad at me, I could tell by her tone and the way she refused to call my name. But she still went out of her way to deal with things that I could have dealt with myself. She would fly around me in my sphere and cover both my front and my back. Like she was scared someone was out hunting for me.

I mean… A few witches may have gotten the idea to try but with my grandmother and my great-grandfather out there wreaking chaos, I doubted they had the luxury to attempt an attack on another royal, impaired as I was.

And even if they did try to attack me, I wouldn’t be their biggest threat. Mei was on a warpath, taking out her frustration at me on the poor witches and beasts that attempted to attack us, or even just got in our way.

We were close to the battlefield. I could tell by the stench of Rubella’s magic that grew stronger and stronger as we moved. It was just as repulsive as ever but because of my forcibly balanced state, I could deal with it a little better than usual.

It still made me want to throw up though.

“Mei.”

“I know your highness. Prepare for battle and try to keep your distance from Rubella. Danger aside, witches tend to like draining magic from their enemies. Support the fighters on the ground and lobby a few shots in with Rubella if you can manage it.

Despite her anger, she constantly relayed advice to me and tried to calm me down, even though I wasn’t panicking.

“Since Rubella is used to battling Goblins and you are not used to battle at all, you’ll need to keep your distance from her. Your biggest advantage against her right now is your royal magic and that she’s likely exhausted from battling your cousin. The battle shouldn’t be too difficult for you but if you feel unsafe then retreat at least four Fluttermoths away and strengthen your shield.”

She took in a deep breath and looked me over, like a mother sending off her child to daycare for the first time-

No, wait. I didn’t like that analogy.

Like a coach sending their athlete for their first game.

That was better.

“Focus your highness. We’re almost there and as much as I would like to, I won’t be able to protect you the whole time. This is your first real battle-“

“Well, there was the one against Esmeralda.”

“Esmeralda was an extremist who believed in the supremacy of the royal line and despite feeling like you compromised that, had no actual intention to harm you. Rubella has no such inhibitions. Remember to stay alert and keep your shield up. Attack from the air and run away if the battle is too difficult.”

“Mei, I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t say that!”

She snapped, frustration making a full showing in her voice.

“You can’t guarantee that and sadly, neither can I. Don’t get overconfident and don’t take anything for granted. Keep in mind that she managed to get you once.”

“By tricking me”

“Well, how do you know that she won't trick you again? Stop trying to placate me and listen to what I'm saying. Your mind needs to be on the battlefield you were so insistent on participating in”

She was right but it still felt bad to have her be so cold to me. I wasn’t so much trying to placate her as I was trying to get her to not be so mad at me.

I knew I would be okay in the battle because of my grandparents, who I could feel hanging around despite their half-hearted effort to keep hidden. Even if both of us weren’t enough, then there was no way Theodulus and Heloise would let us get hurt.

We were flying quite low, only a few feet above the trees due to the rampant battles in the air, so I could easily see the goblin, injured as he was before he made it to the clearing.

“Your highness!”

He looked a bit confused as he looked me over, probably because of my horn and wings, but didn’t hesitate to relay his message to me.

“The lieutenant, Ion as you would know him, is in danger and has requested me to find reinforcements!”

“How far away is the battlefield?”

“About four minutes from us your highness.”

“How is the battle progressing.”

He grimaced at my perhaps obvious question, but I needed to ask it, otherwise, I would get another lecture from Mei about the importance of information before entering a battlefield.

“A witch by the name of Sparrow joined us with her team helped us bring the battle to a deadlock but the head witch managed to call for reinforcements, which will soon arrive.”

“How many enemy witches remain?”

Mei jumped in with a serious tone. The goblin grimaced, probably at being spoken too so authoritatively by a fairy but responded none the less.

“There should be about twenty witches remaining, around fifty when the reinforcements arrive.”

“And how many on our side?”

“We have about fifteen goblins and ten witches that can fight.”

Mei maintained her straight expression as she took in the information and a small frown creased the skin in between her eyebrows. She didn’t look worried, but she did look somewhat annoyed.

“That’s not great. Go on in your search for reinforcements, just in case. Cai, follow me.”

We took off at a faster speed than before toward the noise of the battle. From the distance, I could see a giant snake wrapped around a slightly larger vulture and a familiar red head of hair flying around the battle.

“Mei, We’re here.”

She slightly slowed down and prompted me to do the same.

“Cai, before we enter the battle you should remember-“

“To keep my shield up, yes.”

I somewhat expected her to react badly to my tired tone, but she instead smiled brightly. Her hands twitched around the new weapon and her muscles visibly tightened and loosened in preparation.

She was excited.

“Glad to see you’ve remembered but I’m going to give you some advice, not as your fiancée or as a general but as a fellow fighter on the battlefield. You’re a royal Cai, so your battle will be different than mine. You’ve seen both Heloise and Theodulus fight so you know just how devastating your powers can be.”

Her suddenly talking me up was unexpected but I wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.

“I know I’m a royal, I also know that’s why it's so important for me to stay in the bubble and prioritize my life above other’s.”

“Again, that’s all true. But what I’m saying is that I want you to go wild… within the bubble of course. Wait for Rubella’s reinforcements to arrive, and once they do, I’ll give you a signal to do whatever you want. Whether that's entrapping all of them as you did with Esmeralda, or completely obliterating them as your grandparents did."

The exited but vicious look in her eyes made me excited as well and I could feel the magic swell up within me, but I did my best to hold it back.

“But what about our comrades?”

“Don’t worry about them, I’ll make sure they all get out of the way and send you a signal after. Focus on Rubella but don’t worry about the other witches, get all that you can and leave the rest to us.”

“Mei…”

She waved me off and ran a strong hand through her short hair, shaking out the debris that had landed in it as we flew. She then gave me a charismatic smile and put a hand on her chest as she spoke.

“Don’t worry Cai… Finley. You’ll do great, and even if you mess up you have too many people behind you to help clean up. Just do what you want and get it all out of your system. After all, you’ll be spending the next two weeks in the human world with little to no magic.”

And after that reminder, she launched herself into the battlefield and left me behind to follow.