“Good morning, my lord.”

“I told you to stop that.”

Cairn walked in to Rory’s makeshift office, a scramble of parchment and scrolls placed on a cabinet cut in half. He bowed.

Rory cradled his forehead in his hand. “Have you sent my orders?”

“Yes, I have… Rory. A question about that…”

“Yes?”

“You are letting go of all of the land up to Sym.”

Rory lifted his head and stared at him. “And?”

“The troops will not be happy.”

“That is unfortunate, but a necessary sacrifice,” Rory said, sighing. “We absolutely do not have manpower to do anything but turtle here. Besides, our supply chain is incredible with the railway.” He held a piece of parchment. “We currently have 7,000 troops enlisted. I expect another 4,000 by the time the invasion begins in earnest. That gives us 11,000 troops. My spies say that the Aklan army is 100,000 strong.”

“The discrepancy is that large?” Cairn exclaimed, his eyes widening.

Rory closed his eyes. “Unfortunately. I have a few tricks up my sleeve, however.”

“Ah, the wall you are constructing?”

“Yes, the concrete walls. And the barb wire. And the mines. And the machine gun fire. And the mortars. You don’t even know what half of those mean—keep it that way. The Aklan’s are just as confused as you are. Thankfully.”

Cairn jumped in fear. Rory looked over to see a masked face, kneeling beside him.

“What do you want?”

“My lord, the Aklan troops are at Ien.”

Rory sighed. “We need to quicken things up, then. Only a hundred or so miles left.”

Eris continued to stand there, silent.

“What are you still here for?”

She steeled herself. “You can slow them, my lord.”

“Guerilla tactics, I know. It would be nice, but we can’t afford it. I can’t lose a single man unnecessarily. With our numbers, each man must take out at least ten of the Aklans. Besides, I don’t have time to train them. They are only beginning to drill with the guns. How the hell can I expect them to use them well?”

“Use us. We’re already trained, we can be invisible—“

“No. We went over this already.”

She stood up. “God damn it Rory, I didn’t come here sit around doing nothing!”

“What the hell did you come here for, then? Feel free to leave.”

“Why!? Why don’t you use us?”

“I am not sending children to murder people!”

“It’s war!”

“Men are men, even if you face them down the barrel of a gun. If you forget that, then you are no longer a human.”

“What about the troops, then? You’re fine turning them into monsters!?"

“They are defending their families and their land. It is a fine sacrifice to become a monster to save those. You, on the other hand, are a stranger.”

“Send us. Or we’ll send ourselves.”

“How dare you speak for all of the Roniceri!”

Twelve other figures, all dressed in dark fatigues, appeared. Cairn was hiding in the corner by now. One of them began speaking; Rory noticed that it was Emi, the girl from before.

“Fun is nice and all, but we have the most fun when helping you,” she said, smiling.

Rory turned around. “Damn it! You were the group... you were the group I wanted to save... Fine! So be it. Go and kill yourselves.”

They saluted him.

Rory slumped down back into his chair. “Talk to one of my men. You’ll have the best arms available. Remember, only target the supply chain. Not the army. Don’t try to take down an officer; just attack the supply chain. Just the supply chain, got it? If any of you are about to die, run immediately. I don’t care what you were doing or how important it is. If any of you die, I won’t forgive you.”

Rory felt the night air on his skin; cool in contrast to the hot climate. He looked over the fields that would sooner or later be the staging grounds of the first battle, standing on the concrete barricade he had constructed in the last few weeks. It stretched a few hundred meters on both sides. Ahead of it, a fairly innocuous plain—hidden deep within the earth, however, were hundreds of mines. A simple type made of an unstable wooden box. When enough pressure was applied, the box would break, and the explosive charge would be loosened. It was a technique he had borrowed from the Second World War—a mere piece of history to him.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. “Rosa.”

She walked up next to him. “Can’t sleep?”

“They’re out there. Those kids. Out there killing men, bombing caravans, maybe even being killed.”

“Don’t feel too bad, now. They’re out there by their own choice.”

“I didn’t want this war to taint them any more than it had to. It’s already tainted me. I… I had never killed before. It’s scary.”

“How did it feel?”

“It felt like nothing. That’s why it’s scary. It’s so easy. A sentient being, a mind that can think on its own, gone in a quick, effortless slash. I can see how someone could get used to it.”

Neither of them spoke for a while.

“They’ll be here soon, won’t they?” Rosa asked finally.

“We have a week and half. Maybe longer if they’re successful.”

“Can we win?”

“I don’t know. But we probably can. It’ll still be summer for another month or two. If we can rout them here, we’ll keep pushing. Pushing them farther and farther off.”

“Oh? Your lack of confidence contradicts your decisions.”

“What do you mean?”

She smiled. “You didn’t order them to burn any of their farms. Only someone absolutely confident they can break out of the siege and push them back would do something like that.”

Rory sighed. “Where did you learn what scorched earth policy is, anyway?”

“Don’t underestimate me. I was the only heir to the Vyncis a while ago. It would be me up here if you didn’t exist.”

“I should’ve ordered them. Should’ve. I couldn’t do it, though. Tell those hardworking people to burn everything they’ve worked for in the last decade. I’m trying to make hard decisions, but my heart falters. Just like with the Roniceri. I need to use every resource I have, and they’re a damn good resource—a bunch of assassins.” He sat down and looked up at the night star, filled by stars. “Where… where I use to live, there were people who used children as soldiers. They were effective; their small size let them fit in places where they else wouldn’t. The world considered those people monsters, though. I considered them monsters. And here I am.”

“If a monster saves hundreds of thousands of lives while a human loses them all, which one is the real monster?”

“I know. I need to make those decisions. For the people. For the Vyncis. I wonder how history will think of me. As a hero, the one who prevailed against impossible odds, or—”

“—as the monster who massacred hundreds of thousands. Probably both.”

“It’s strange. Everyone laughs at inept princes—oh, what a fool. He was born into luxury and power and he can’t even use it. If I was him, the country would be in a golden age by now. Everyone wants power, and yet, when you finally have it, you realize that it’s damn heavy. Heavy enough to crush a man. Suddenly, you begin to sympathize a hell’ve a lot more with that prince.”

Rosa sat down next to him. “It doesn’t have to weigh on you alone. I’m here with you, all the way.”

“The historians shall call you the evil consort of Rory the Terrible,” Rory said, chuckling.

“Ah? I think they’d call me the beauty trapped by the beast.”

“I’m a beast, now?” he asked, looking down at himself.

“A midget, then.”

“A midget that was crippled for most of the story.”

“Alright, a beauty trapped by the crippled midget.”

“You’re no taller than I am.”

“A midget beauty trapped by a crippled midget?”

Rory looked down at his hands. "That may be more truth than fiction, I'm afraid. Rosa, if you—"

"Someone needs a hug!" she cried, jumping on him. She covered his mouth with her hand. "Sometimes, you should really shut up, methinks."

He protested at first, trying to shake her off, but eventually gave up. They laid there a while, entangled in each other, looking up at the stars.

“Rosa.”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”