Delilah sat in the study, glancing over the map. Captain Hathaway was insistent that she study it and understand which part of her kingdom was being attacked. Part of her still wanted to travel to that location, to see for herself what was happening. To give aid to her people if she could, but then maybe her people would see that she was mad.

She remembered getting stabbed, having flaming arrows launched at her. She had been in so much pain. She was screaming, trying to get away. There was a girl with white hair, holding a glowing blue sword, who kept striking her, stabbing into her over and over again. The girl looked familiar somehow, as if Delilah should know her, but she couldn’t remember if the girl was real or just a figment of her imagination. It seemed that there was a great battle and she had lost something, but what had she lost?

She knew that these images were coming to her more and more frequently of late. Sometimes it was just a flash of a memory and other times, the entire castle around her seemed to disappear as if she were standing just outside the thing she was remembering…or imagining.

She remembered holding the baby again. There was a party and people, but the people were all very still. It was possible that they were statues, but who would bother to dress statues in such fanciful colors? One of the windows had been broken, but it didn’t seem the sort of place to have a window broken like that. No one was moving except for her and the child. The baby didn’t cry, not even a little, but blinked her big brown eyes up at Delilah and she had whispered something to the child. She could not remember what. The thought puzzled her. She wished she could remember who the baby was, who her parents were.

The smells of freshly baked bread and beef stew beckoned to her and she realized that her mind had been drifting agin. It was becoming so difficult to concentrate on what it was that she was supposed to do. She rose and moved to the dining room, where Mathias had already laid dinner out for her on the long and empty table. When this war was over, she would have to invite the nobles of her kingdom to come feast with her. The dining hall would be large enough to host them all, she was sure.

She sat at the center of the head table, hoping that her memories would not haunt her for a moment at least and she could enjoy her meal. Where was Mathias? He usually came to find her when her meals were prepared. She was certain that he was attending to one matter or another, and she put it out of her mind.

Her fingers were almost burned when she picked up the loaf of bread. She cracked it and steam rose into the air. She slathered the piece of bread with butter, moving her fingers continually so that they would not burn.

The crust was hard and the center was soft and she savored the flavor, washing it down with wine, which had already been poured for her as well.

In the middle of her second bite, Captain Hathaway entered. She had taken a larger bite than she should have and fought to swallow her bread so that she could speak.

The captain did not seem to notice, or if he did, he did not embarrass her by asking if she was well. He bowed. “Your majesty, there were people sneaking through your borders.”

“Did you let them through as we discussed?”

“Of course.” He motioned and a prisoner, who was bound and gagged was brought forward. When he did not kneel before her, he was thrown to the ground. The man was old and it surprised her than any kingdom would send such an old and possibly sick man to spy on her and her people. Maybe a harmless old man would be overlooked by others. She was satisfied with the captain’s work and she told him so.

“It is my honor to serve,” he said and bowed again.

Delilah took a drink of wine, relishing the bitter flavor on her tongue. “Have you sent our spy?”

“Yes, your majesty. She is in place.” He grinned then, an evil smile among his gray whiskers. “They will not know who hit them until it is too late. She will contact the witch soon enough.”

She glanced down at the old man. Now that he was here, listening to this, he could cause problems for them if they were not careful, but as she looked at him, she wondered if he could make it back to his homeland even if they were to untie him now. He seemed to be wheezing.

She ignored him for the moment. “And the border, how are things there?”

“Holding. The enemy is at bay and we are taking out any the attempt to sneak across our border.”

She felt satisfaction. Everything was going to plan. “Thank you, captain. Hold the line for now. Weaken them only when it is not a risk to us. Soon we will be ready to strike.”

Hailey did not want to look back at Esmerelda. She had too many things to do to worry about her once friend. The other girl seemed not to want to make amends, but she turned to see why Esmerelda had screamed. Esmerelda’s cart was sticking out too far into the road. She was behind a long line of wagons trying to get to the kitchen. The back part of her wagon was still in the road, but most of the other traffic was moving slower and had gone around.

A carriage came from up the hill at a break neck speed. Esmerelda had screamed before it had even hit, but if the carriage did not veer out of the way.

The carriage smashed into the cart, breaking the back corner of the cart and one of its wheels. The driver of the carriage screamed. “Get your wagon out of my way!”

But the carriage, which only had scratches along its side, hurried on, leaving a cloud of dust behind. Vegetables and wood had flown everywhere and Esmerelda stooped to pick up the food she had brought to the castle. At least Esmerelda had not gotten hurt. Hailey paused for a moment, deciding whether or not to help her. Esmerelda looked up with tears streaming down her face.

Hailey groaned and moved forward to help. She would have been willing to help anyone else, why not her old friend?

“Don’t say anything,” Esmerelda said. “I know I was too far into the road, but I didn’t have anywhere else to put my cart.”

“That was pretty obvious. He should have seen you. It’s not dark yet.”

Esmerelda nodded, not meeting Hailey’s eyes. There was a long pause, as Hailey picked up carrots, and a pumpkin that had cracked.

“I am sorry I didn’t help your friend before,” Esmerelda said. She finally looked up at Hailey. She wore the simple woven dress of a woman who worked the fields. Her long apron was still full of vegetables and her pretty face was covered in dust.

Hailey was caught off guard. Esmerelda had never apologized for anything as long as Hailey could remember. “It’s ok,” she said, Her voice sounding timid, even to her own ears.

Esmerelda paused a moment and then her words came out in a rush. “I didn’t mean to leave him just lying there, but I don’t know anything about hurt people. I was moved out to that farm with people I don’t know and the lord of the house was out there watching everything. He can be cruel to those who overstep their bounds. Well, not cruel exactly, but he’s yelled at people before for telling him what they think about things, as if he is the only one…” she stopped.

“What?” Hailey asked.

“You don’t need to know all the things that are going on with me. You’re a lady now, and you boss your own people around, more than like. I didn’t mean that.” She stopped again.

“Esmerelda, you are one of my only friends, or you were once. Just because I have a different job now doesn’t make me any better than anyone else. It might not hurt you to know someone in the castle, your friend. It’s not exactly like I’m a grand duchess or anything. The servants don’t accept me as one of their own and the nobility doesn’t even know me yet. I’m too busy to stop and get to know anyone. So the precious few friends I have, I would like to hold on to, you know?” Her voice caught at her last statement, and there was a long pause before Esmerelda threw her arms around Hailey.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She let go almost as quickly as she had hugged her. “Is your friend ok? Did her survive, I mean?”

“He is fine. He’s running around with the other guards. What are you going to do about your wagon? It will take time to fix and maybe we could have dinner together.”

“I have to get back soon, only I don’t know how I’ll make it now that it’s broken. That’s going to come out of my wages. I shouldn’t have left it in the road like that.”

“I’m sure we can do something about that. She found one of the guards. Edward, she thought his name was. He had curly hair and a short, trimmed beard. “Find the carpenter and ask him if he can have this wagon fixed by morning. Also, if you could get it out of the road, I would appreciate it.”

He saluted as if he was accustomed to taking orders from her.

Esmerelda looked at Hailey in astonishment. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

“I’ll ask the kitchen to make honey cakes for us.”

A smile lit up Esmerelda’s face as she remembered one of their childhood adventures. Hailey smiled and let Esmerelda unload the rest of her cart. Maybe it was too soon to sit down and talk everything over, but this was a start. She hoped Esmerelda would find friends at her new place and thought she could look in on her every once in a while. She did have a glyph tied to that farm.