With one leg bent, Cale leaned against a rock a few meters away from the campfire, where several people were squatting. His group, William, Ben, Aletta and Philippa, had also made themselves comfortable there and were talking to the people. There were actually quite a few of them, which was probably also due to tonight's fight, which had attracted many onlookers. William didn't want to sit there at first, but after energetic pleading by Ben he finally gave in and it didn't seem as if he regretted his choice. Occasionally he glanced into the darkness at Cale, who was sitting right next to Sir Nolan. They had both distanced themselves from the group and were having a conversation in private.

"I can't believe I've been jealous of you all this time", Sir Nolan admitted quietly but with a laugh. She had been talking about An for quite a while. The red-haired woman was Yuma's childhood friend and secret love, reinforced by the fact that they lived next door to each other. Cale had been to her house quite a few times, mostly to briefly exchange current events, however he had never really realised that the neighbor's window was open and Sir Nolan could catch a glimpse of him as he passed by. That was a good ten years ago, when An Perendan and Sir Nolan were still about 25. Never would Cale have expected to have a casual neighbor as his nemesis. It was one of those encounters that Cale just didn't expect. "I felt so stupid."

Sir Nolan had been embarrassed to death after hearing Cale's story and now began to hide it with laughter. For 10 years he had been waiting to find his friend's supposed lover and give him a mighty piece of his mind, accordingly he was surprised to see his unchanged face again after all this time. Cale, who was about 12 years old at the time, had adjusted his appearance to his current look so that he appeared older. Neither An Perendan nor Yuma Nolan knew that he was in fact a child. Both assume it because he simply has good genes, even if Sir Nolan was'nt completely convinced by this statement.

"By the gods. I always thought she had used her work as an excuse to meet with you, when she was really working... I can't believe it."

Sir Nolan had to laugh again, with amusement and with charm. Of course, he had asked Cale to keep the secret, which Cale heartlessly took advantage of and forbade him to tell anyone who he had fought against. Even without this deal, Cale would not have mentioned anything to An, he simply did not care enough about her or her private life. Besides, even so he had An and Sir Nolan exactly where he wanted them. One was looking after the town and the other one was silent, that was everything that Cale needed.

Loud sighs encouraged Cale to turn his head in Sir Nolan's direction. The man with the muscular torso and short beard leaned his head against the stone and stared at the sky.

"I wonder if she and the city are well", Sir Nolan spoke up again.

"Most certainly. Lady Perendan is quite strong and she has some capable people under her. They do well on their own", Cale replied, propping his head on his knee as he looked at Sir Nolan. The man smiled modestly but said nothing more. Cale was nevertheless aware that he would still be worried. He told himself that Sylve would be fine without him, because his help was clearly more needed in Altona.

After all, he had a mass murder to prevent.

When Cale felt William approaching them, he straightened up and followed his friend with his black eyes. He had been quite surprised that neither Ben nor William had been recognised, but he himself. The man to his left had no idea that the third prince of his homeland was just coming towards him. With tired eyes, he too finally spotted William, sighed and straightened up.

"I'm going to go check on my students", he finally announced and said goodbye to Cale, nodding to William as he passed and heading back to the campfire. For a moment, William stopped and followed the man with his eyes before arriving at Cale's.

"Did I disturb you?", he asked cautiously. Cale merely shook his head and, tapping the floor, indicated to William to sit down beside him. The mage leaned against the stone and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the cold breeze. There was something calming and harmless about the moment, but it was the usual calm before the storm. In a few weeks they would all be involved in a fight with the creatures, some of the people who were currently around the campfire would not survive it. The thought of this made Cale nervous, as he disliked throwing capable people for the dogs to devour. "How do you two know each other?"

"Can't call it knowing. We're more like casual acquaintances", Cale replied quietly as William dropped down beside him. "I worked with a soldier of the royal family for a number of years and he is her childhood friend and neighbor. That's how we know each other."

"A female soldier? Do I know her?"

"I don't think so. Her name is An Perendan."

"First Company An Perendan?"

"Oh, you know her?", threw back Cale in astonishment. "I didn't expect you to know her. Yes, that An."

"A small world, indeed", William muttered. About two years ago, the name 'An Perendan' had been on everyone's lips. She had received a promotion to the First Company from one day to the next, from King Leonhardt himself. But when William tried to find out why she had received this promotion, no one could give him any information. Neither Duke of Freigoud, nor Sir Venlan, let alone any of the other ministers or his brothers. There was a possibility that they did not want to tell him, but to cause an argument because of that was not worth it. He had not been that interested in her situation. In the meantime, however, he suspected that Cale had played a part in it all, which raised many questions. For a brief moment, he considered asking the High-Mage what it was all about, but decided against it. Instead, he changed the subject completely. "Did I ever tell you about my brothers?"

Somewhat puzzled as to how William came to make that statement, Cale opened his eyes and turned to him. The latter, like himself, was leaning against the rock and had his eyes closed as he told his story.

"Marion was the brother with whom I spent most of my childhood and youth. Because he was the older of the two of us, he was sort of in charge and that got me into trouble all the time. I remember how he wanted to prove to me that he could see in the dark and kidnapped me at night into our library. Of course, he couldn't see and threw quite a few books off the shelves in his attempt to find a book from the Chronicles of Creature lore series. Marion had memorised the material of the cover and tried to identify the book by that and so that he didn't get confused, he threw row after row of books on the floor. You can imagine how upset the librarian was, but of course she had to behave towards us, so King Leonhardt was informed. Mad and I tried to talk our way out of it, but father knew we were lying from the start. As punishment, we had to collect the used books every evening for a fortnight and put them away again, which was a really hard task for a 7- and 8-year-old. We spent hours trying to decipher the words and understand logic in the library, so we wouldn't get it wrong."

William cleared his throat in amusement, opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.

"Edward was very different. Apart from the fact that I spent almost no time with him, he had always been the quietest and smartest out of the three of us. It's probably because he had to learn quite a few things as Crown Prince and always had a tight schedule, but neither Mad nor I have been able to build a real relationship with him. On the other hand, he's also three years older than me and somehow always had the job of keeping an eye on the nursery when the three of us were out", William explained, pausing, smirking, before saying quietly. "Sometimes I miss them."

Immediately, he straightened up and corrected his choice of words.

"Not that I miss my life at the palace, by the gods, that was a disaster. But I always liked Mad and Ed. It's just that it was always hard for Mad and I to have a place in the family because all the attention was on Ed. His life was presented to him on a silver platter, while we didn't know what was in store for us when he became king. To this day, I have no idea what will happen to us."

William paused, took a deep breath, and rubbed his head in embarrassment when he spotted Cale's smile.

"I think Crown Prince Edward must feel quite lonely", Cale finally spoke up. He always knew that William had a difficult relationship with his father and his family. It wasn't as mature when he was a child, but the older he got, the more distant they became.

"What, Edward? No, I can't imagine."

"You think? Imagine what it must be like for him to live his whole life according to your father's plan. You said it yourself that you hardly had any contact because he was always busy with other things. I can very well imagine that he never really lived, never got to do his own thing, or had any real friends. That's why I think he is lonely."

William sucked the words in like a sponge as he looked thoughtfully at the floor. For a few moments he remained silent, as if running through his past again, looking for clues. His eldest brother never seemed lonely to him, not once. Whenever he saw him, he was surrounded by dozens of people talking to him. When was the last time he had had a conversation with Edward alone? William could not remember. Marion had clearly been in contact with Edward more often, especially in recent years, but him? Sometimes it felt like Edward and he were strangers.

"I don't know about that, it never seemed that way to me", he remarked after a few moments of silence, sighing and leaning against the rock again. "He was like a light in the darkness for me. The only one who ever managed to gain some freedom."

"Freedom?"

"Being a prince is a real pain in the ass. People want something from you all the time, but never ask your opinion. I was always just a figurehead, silently following orders and not allowed to stand out. That was really bad as a child, because I always wanted to go out and was never allowed to. At some point, I developed a real fear of the outside world that I really hid in the palace. Marion did the same."

"Sounds like a tough time", Cale acknowledged cautiously. In a certain way, he understood William very well. He, too, was a prisoner in the cycle of life, caught between the past and the future - with no prospect of redemption. At some point, this had driven Cale so mad that he had entrenched himself in the exclusion zone for decades, cutting off all contact with humans.

Until the moment when a ship appeared in the sky and gave him new hope.

"However, you may not be wrong. I don't feel like I know Edward at all, and I don't know how he sees life in the royal house. If we should meet again, then I will definitely ask him."

"Do that", Cale replied, looking at the campfire. Remorse came over him as he remembered the hundreds of thousands of dead people scattered all over the country at that time. All the blood and the sickening stench registered with Cale, giving him goosebumps. He would never forget the sight.

One of the main reasons he hated red hair and never used it for his shapeshifting. If he wanted to attract attention, he preferred to use the shape of a Frignezer. He was much more comfortable with that.