While Queen Ilifreeta was dealing with royal affairs, another royal was waiting in the wings, whose name was Niana Ilti. She is the crown princess of the kingdom of Hippolyta and was one of the first people we encountered when we arrived on this planet. I still remember how she fled from a terrible threat, saving her life and the lives of those few who relied on her. She was desperate, she had waited too long to return home with an army and retake her homeland from the hands of foreign invaders.

In reality, no one wanted to help her, neither Queen Lacuus nor even General Zeonid, which made me feel very sorry for her. And although both of these individuals were almost the same age, they grew up in different countries, with different cultures and traditions, and were separated by only two dangerous forests, which were very difficult for local residents to cross.

It’s hard to imagine what the Imperials are doing to the Hippolytians now. Most likely, the Antigonians impose their own rules and slaughter the entire population, populating new lands with their own settlers. There are reasons for this assumption.

According to Granid, about three hundred million people live there in the Antigone Empire, which is too many for a country of this era. It is unlikely that without a sufficient level of technological development, one country can feed so many people. Surely the main goal of the Empire is to expand living space, otherwise I don’t know why, after tens of thousands of years of stagnation, the Empire suddenly started a war against neighboring states.

There must be a reason for all this, but we cannot find out because we are too ignorant of what is going on in this mysterious country and what threat it poses to us. We don’t even know whether it is possible to establish neutral contact with her, let alone conduct military operations against her.

Therefore, having found free time, I organized a meeting between representatives of the kingdoms of Lacuus and hippolytians, and also invited representatives of the Republic of Earth. Our side at this meeting was an observation group, and yet we could become participants in these negotiations if appropriate circumstances arose.

The general sat with his arms crossed, and it was clear from his face that Zeonid was not at all interested in negotiations regarding the Antigone Empire, despite the fact that they were responsible for the death of our people. Perhaps the general simply did not particularly trust Granid’s words, or rather, he really wanted to verify them personally, and for this he had to take a risk and send scouts to the Empire, which he did not want.

Getting involved in new adventures is the last thing Zeonid wanted and I completely share his point of view. We first need to focus on collecting the necessary resources, building a ship and developing a new jump engine, and let the natives stew in the cauldron and not interfere with us.

Just let them try to enter into confrontation with us.

I thought and sat down in my place watching all the delegations in the meeting room.

Negotiations soon began and ended immediately when Niana immediately demanded to intervene and send troops through the goblin forest, in response to which all Lacuus representatives shook their heads, rose from their seats and silently left the negotiation room.

This is what I expected.

Even Ilifreeta told Furgur to take her to her office and left behind her a pitiful look, as a sign that the queen deeply sympathizes with Niana, but cannot help her in any way.

In the end, only the hippolytians and we, the people from the sky, remained in the room. Niana, in turn, sat as if dead, looking at the door through which the lacuusians passed as if she had just been betrayed. She was silent for some time before turning her attention to Zeonid, who was sitting quietly, whose face was stern as stone.

"You…"

Niana tried to speak, but Zeonid immediately answered, shaking his head negatively.

"No. Don't expect help from us. We have enough problems of our own."

The general spoke briefly and clearly. It was clear from the girl’s face that she was not just in despair, she was terrified and did not know how to get out of this situation, after which she hurriedly and without a word left the room. She seemed about to cry. Zaden got up and hurried after her, and we continued to sit in place.

“Then I won’t stay here either.”

Zeonid said and also left the room, accompanied by his bodyguards.

Here, in this spacious and at the same time cozy room, where one could lazily spend days and nights, only me, Granid and Ripun remained. The rest also left without knowing why they had organized a meeting doomed to failure.

While clouds floated peacefully outside the window and flocks of birds flew by, I sat down on the sofa with a heavy sigh and spoke to the prophet. I wanted to somehow dispel this heaviness that I felt towards Niana, so I couldn’t think of anything better than asking the prophet a somewhat everyday question.

"How's Alza doing?"

Ripun's gaze directed into emptiness was as serious as Zeonid's, but he, having heard my words, quickly found an answer, simultaneously folding his fingers.

"She's due soon."

That's all he told me and apparently deciding that I decided to ask the same question, but to me.

"How are you doing?"

I could only grin sadly at his question.

“We see each other every day, I think you already know.”

"Really."

Our conversation was not going very well, and at the moment when it seemed that we would spend the rest of the day in awkward silence, Granid inserted his word. He, too, was an observer and did not utter a word from the moment the negotiations began.

The old wizard sat down on one of the chairs, scratching his beard at the same time, and set a topic for conversation.

“Princess Niana will become a wise queen, but now she is too young. She does not understand that you cannot get power in easy ways. You need to work long and hard to achieve what you want, and this is not an easy road on which anything the Gods want can happen.”

"She understands that very well."

Ripun said and added.

“She was just tired. You don’t know what happened to us in the poisonous forest. There were thousands of us then and people, men, women, old women and children died every day. They died following the heiress and daughter Femila. They believed that she would save everyone. But they almost all died. Only me, Zaden, Alza and Niana remained. There was no one else left. But then we found you, at the moment when they were ready to kill us. And we were very happy about it. miracle."

The prophet's gaze directed in my direction was full of reverence and gratitude. Rinun showed with all his appearance that they were still grateful to us, which made me somewhat happy. I'm sure they expect more from us than just protection, but in reality we haven't gotten everything we wanted from them yet.

“We hoped that you would help us, because you defeated these damned Antigonians. We followed you and got here, but we never found anything that would help us save Hippolyta. Our people are suffering, they are dying. Maybe I can’t see this, but I just imagine that the great mother herself shows me these terrible visions in my dreams. I see suffering, great torment on faces frozen in mortal agony and every time I I wake up and it’s not me who’s crying, Niana is crying as if she herself saw the horror that I dreamed.”

From such revelations, I could only bitterly acknowledge his pain.

"I understand you perfectly, Ripun, but we really can't help."

The Prophet only became angry at my words, clenching his fingers into fists. His face, previously full of awe and gratitude, was distorted into a grimace of anger. It seemed like he was about to pounce on me. And as I guessed, he almost took off.

“Then why are we here?! Why did we survive?! Isn’t it to become the last hope of our people?! Or maybe to perish here, to become the last reminder of the kingdom of Hippolyta?! Do you know?! No, you don’t know, you are a stranger, you have no desire to help us, our people, and I realized this when you killed those people in Itsqueen! You do everything for yourself, your people... and we too.”

The last words were spoken with a degree of self-condemnation. Even though Ripun said all these words with anger directed towards me, he definitely understood that such behavior concerns absolutely all people, and not just us. Not everyone is ready to help those in need, and because of this, people get angry at others and at themselves in particular, realizing that they themselves would not be ready to provide support in such a situation.

Alas, we still do not know the exact degree of danger posed by the Antigone Empire, which means we have no need to be at enmity with it now. Even if a whole and unharmed ship with a jump engine had wandered into their territory, we would still think a thousand times before acting decisively.

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Ripun and Niana may have lost the country, but we also had something to lose. We risked remaining on this planet forever and never seeing our families. Therefore, I could not adequately share his pain.

"We are all suffering."

That was all I could say.

Ripun didn’t respond to these words, and by that moment I had already lost all desire to stay here, so I decided to say goodbye:

“Well, I’ll go check on my people. Maybe the general didn’t give me a new rank, but he kept the current one. I promise that if I somehow get to the division headquarters, I will lobby for your interests within the 127th Army. Maybe we will find a reason to send troops to Hippolyta, but now, unfortunately, there is none.”

"So you need a reason."

Ripun said it and didn’t add anything else, just like Granid.

Without saying anything, I simply left the room and walked along the corridor of the palace to the barracks. In the future, I will need to prepare and await orders from General Zeonid. I don’t know exactly what he was able to prepare for us, but I hope it won’t be a one-way suicide mission.

Perhaps he will decide to organize a search for Leo's platoon in the mountains to the south, but first of all it is necessary to gather information about these lands, and perhaps he will decide to do something different with us.

I wonder why we're still here?

***

Princess Niana's chambers.

Only now do I realize what I just did. Instead of asking for help, I demanded it, which is why I did not receive any help or even advice. The golden-haired queen could only give me a sad look and nothing more. Ilifreeta, the young queen of this country was still poorly versed in government.

She preferred to give the initiative in making decisions to her advisers rather than doing something herself, but even she understood that she could not help us in any way. Even those strangers from the sky were against helping us. I didn’t even have time to ask for help, and this old man had already rejected my offer, knowing what was on my mind.

They were completely indifferent to the fate of our country. They did everything just for themselves.

Even now I understand that back then in the poisonous forest they did not save us, but simply defended themselves from the Antigonians. We were just lucky that they decided not to kill us, and we fools believed that they were those same magical dryads, and only then realized that they were strangers.

They allowed us to follow them to learn more about our world. In their own way, they themselves were fools, but unlike us they were very distrustful and cautious. And even though they saved us then, but in fact they were the real villains!

They mercilessly killed Itsqueen civilians to save Sigrun. Perhaps if I were in their place, I would have acted in exactly the same way, but it still seemed to me that by killing innocent people I would have a huge burden on me for their lives. I didn’t see it on their faces, as if people’s lives were nothing to them.

They are real monsters!

That’s what I started thinking from that very moment, but I still decided to follow them, because there was no one else to follow.

Now, when I reached the capital of the kingdom of Lacuus, I was only concerned about the lives of my people, the people of the kingdom of Hippolyta. The Empire began a war of conquest against the whole world and Lacuus was simply obliged to provide support, but they refused and did not even utter a word when leaving the negotiation room. And the strangers from the sky who call themselves earthlings decided to build a wall in front of me, as if I were nothing to them.

At such a moment, I simply could not tolerate my own helplessness and hurried to leave the room and return to the guest quarters. I asked the palace servants not to let anyone in to see me, so that I could cry alone with myself all the tears of grief, pain and sadness that had accumulated in my soul.

I swore to myself that I would protect Hippolyta, continue the work of my mother, avenge her and return freedom to our people. However, in reality I was very weak. I had nothing to offer in exchange for help.

I could offer my allegiance to Queen Ilifreeta, but that would be too much responsibility for her. Protecting not only your people, but also mine, is truly an impossible task for a young lady. And it is unlikely that hippolytians would agree to serve someone else’s monarch even in words. It's the same as if a man groveled before a pig in order to bathe in mud. If I were an ordinary person, I would hardly come to terms with the idea that I live in a country where a man can afford more than a woman, this is simply unacceptable!

Strangers from the sky would also be unlikely to agree to this, because their homeland is too far away, outside of our world, and they just want to return there as soon as possible. I have nothing to offer them. And I know little about their laws, even though they had enormous power, it could be used for evil at any moment, and I no longer wanted that.

As a result, I discarded the idea of offering my allegiance and considered it untenable. I was too proud to accept living in submission. I was raised as the future mistress of Hippolyta, as the mistress of countless souls. I will never accept such a fate, but then what else can I do?

After long hours spent in the chambers with my nose buried in a soft pillow, I calmed down a little and plunged into thought for a long time, thinking about what I should do to save my country.

What could I offer that would help me and only one thought came to mind, which I also really didn’t like:

Niana Ilti

I could only offer myself, offer my body as payment in exchange for help, but not to the Republic and Lacuus, but to someone more powerful who would be able to fight the Antigone Empire.

Escape from the clutches of Sod's fanatical servants to become the toy of a foreign king...

I was much more disgusted by this thought than by the idea of simply swearing allegiance.

However, I did not know who, other than the strangers from the sky, had such power to fight the sacred Antigone Empire. It seemed to me that such kingdoms simply did not exist, and I knew for sure that such countries did not exist. The Antigone Empire is the strongest country in the world and going to war against it is simply stupid. History has repeatedly witnessed how coalitions were formed against the servants of Sod, which were subsequently destroyed due to internal squabbles or on the battlefield. We can say that the Antigone Empire was truly invincible and I am in vain hoping to gather an army of liberation on foreign lands.

The earthlings, however, showed themselves to be truly powerful and at the same time there were a lot of them, one might say enough to not only free Hippolyta, but also to bury Antigone in ruins.

This meant I didn’t have much choice, and I knew that the Republic was the only force capable of crushing the servants of Sod. There was just one problem:

But what to offer them? Will this old one accept...

I didn’t even think further.

The thought of lying with this old man seemed worse than death itself, and I instantly threw it away.

I am the daughter of Queen Femila! I am the last of the Ilti line! I have pride! I shouldn’t give myself up to be torn to pieces by all sorts of freaks! B-but what else can I do?!

Long hours of reflection were interrupted by a knock on the door behind which a familiar voice was heard:

"Madam, this is Ripun, may I come in?"

"Come in."

I ordered, wiping the tears from my face and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

The Prophet, in his brown robe, entered the room and bowed respectfully to me. On his face I noticed notes of enthusiasm, as if there was some excellent thought on his lips, which is why I decided to ask him:

"What do you need at this late hour?"

The words I heard later surprised me very much.

"I know how to get Boris's people to help us."

I froze for a moment.

Force us to help? Not to ask, not to exchange, but to force?

I hoped that he would offer something new that I had not previously thought of and, filled with hopes and trust in the prophet, I asked him:

"How?"

Ripun looked back, as if avoiding unnecessary ears that could overhear our conversation, and then, coming closer, he quietly whispered to me:

"We will kidnap Zeonid and send him to Hippolyta."

"WHAT?!"

I screamed in shock.

From such words, my eyes almost bulged out, and Ripun immediately covered my mouth with his palm.

"Please keep your voice down."

The prophet said with fear on his face and removed his hand from my mouth.

"Sorry."

I had to apologize for reacting to his idea like that, it was too crazy.

Kidnap their leader... oh great mother...

I didn’t believe in what was proposed, and meanwhile Ripun continued:

"I know this will sound very cruel and ignoble towards our saviors, but I think this is a great opportunity to free your kingdom."

"What do you mean? Why would we kidnap the leader of these aliens and…."

I fell silent, starting to guess something, and without noticing it myself, I finished with Ripun.

“He is their leader, they will be forced to save him, which means the earthlings will send their army to Hippolyta on these flying fortresses.”

"Yes."

The prophet nodded.

"We will tell them that their leader will go with us to Hippolyta, and the earthlings will be forced to send their army to save him."

"This sounds like a very evil plan."

I said while my heart was pounding wildly with excitement.

I really didn’t want to do what Ripun suggested to me, but I’m afraid I had no choice but to agree to his crazy adventure. There was only one important question left:

"But if I return to Hippolyta, I will be captured and killed. I am a princess after all."

"You won't come back."

"What?"

"You will stay here. Only Zaden and I will return to Hippolyta with the captured general."

"What will happen to Alza?"

"She will stay with you. She must give birth to a child here. She cannot return there."

"What if they threaten my life or Alza's life?"

Ripun wanted to quickly answer something, but fell silent. He himself understood that this was very risky, but shaking his head, he soon confidently said:

"If something happens to you or Alza, their general will die. That's what you tell them."

"Can you kidnap this old man?"

"I'll think of something."

Ripun said confidently.

“I am a prophet, I will definitely think of something. I will die as many times as necessary, but I will fulfill your wish. Boris said that they could help, but they need a good reason. I thought that saving their leader would be an excellent reason.”

“But won’t this make the earthlings our enemies? They will stop trusting us after that.”

“Yes, they will stop if they know that it was we who kidnapped the general. And if they find out, then it will no longer matter since they will still be forced to do what they must, namely send their army. We will save our country from these fanatics, murderers and rapists.”

Ripun spoke angrily, clenching his fingers into fists.

“Victory requires sacrifice, great sacrifice, and believe me, I will do everything possible for us to win. I will sacrifice myself as many times as necessary. I, like you, no longer want to see how our people suffer, how our people die and how we flee in horror from the Order of the White Moon. I am a faithful son of the great mother and will preserve her legacy until the end of time.”

His words were full of confidence. He looked at me firmly with his orange-red eyes and with his very appearance he encouraged me. And although I knew that doing such a thing would be wrong to those who saved us, we really had no other choice. I would like to believe that there could be another path, a path without breaking our friendship and our connections, but I knew that there simply were no such paths.

And can our relationship be called friendly if they don’t want to help us? No. They do everything only for themselves, so we will do everything for ourselves.

I thought about his words for a long time, weighed all the pros and cons, and eventually I rose to my feet and looking the prophet in the face with all the severity, with all the confidence that I had accumulated in myself, I gave him the order:

"Ripun, I order you to kidnap Zeonid and go with him to Hippolyta. Do what you have planned and save our people."

And even though after these words there was no turning back, I decided not to regret anything.

Victory is worth the sacrifice, but not ours.