“I think it’s reasonable to assume that Aldor has something to do with Frostland’s attack on Rosepost.” Aviar stated, his voice overlapping the sound of the horses' hooves stepping on the crisp, cold grass as it walked.

He rode a white horse, while James rode a brown one, as did the hundreds of dwarves behind them who too were riding horses and King Bakdrel, who was riding in front of them. All the dwarves wore bronze armor with a spear mounted on their backs, while James and Aviar only had their clothes for protection and a short, sheathed sword on their waists.

“I agree,” James said. “I doubt any other wizard is going around Lyrid causing wars and threatening kingdoms.”

“Do you think he’ll be there?” James asked. “At Rosepost, I mean.”

“If he isn’t, then we would be putting our lives at risk for no reason.” replied Aviar.

Despite James now looking down at the reins of his horse, Aviar was still staring at his face, squinting to see what he could of his eyes. Something was different about them. It was like a dark veil was put over them, casting a shadow on what normally would be white in his eyes. Given that there were no trees around them, it couldn’t have been a physical shadow. And it wasn’t stretched across his face or behind him.

My eyes must be deceiving me.

Whether it had been an illusion or reality, the darkness of James’ eyes made him feel uneasy.

“What?” James asked as he looked back at Aviar, his face showing confusion.

“Nothing.”

“If Aldor truly is behind all this,” James began, “what could be his reason for sending Frostland to literally destroy Rosepost?”

“Well,” started Aviar. “We know he wants people to join him and Evisior. When the dwarves refused, he threatened them with war. Therefore, maybe he wanted the King to join him, but was met with the same answer. Thus causing him to send Frostland, a kingdom who he probably had on his side already.”

For a moment, James looked like he was deep in his thoughts, fishing out whatever he could.

“What’s wrong?” Aviar asked.

“A while ago,” James began, “I was sent by the King to rescue Princess Rosepost from Lord Darkstar. Aldor and Evisior were there and were disappointed that it was me and not the King. Lord Darkstar gave me the Princess back. Then he said something about them gaining nothing from killing a farmer.”

“Your point, James.”

“My point is, I think you’re right. He and Evisior are probably killing any world leaders who won’t join them.”

“Removing obstacles before they become too large.” added Aviar.

James nodded.

What James suggested made sense, but it created a new question. Why are Aldor and Evisior trying to awaken Myrmurrian in the first place? Hopefully, this question would soon be answered now that they approached the ruins of the kingdom.

“We’re here.” King Bakdrel stated. He lifted his fist in the air, his arm bent at an angle, and all the dwarves behind James and Aviar stopped the movement of their horses.

From where they were, many Frostland soldiers could be seen all around the kingdom’s remains, patrolling it nonstop as though they were informed of the possibility of aid coming for Rosepost, or to make sure nobody left inside could escape to go retrieve help.

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“If you too wish to stay here,” he began as James and Aviar stopped their horses beside him, “I’d suggest you make that decision now.

James and Aviar both shook their heads left and right.

“Very well, Bakdrel said. “I don’t say this often, but please, be careful. I’d hate for the burden of informing your friends of your deaths to fall on any of us.”

He then put his fist up once more, and the sound of hooves hitting the ground rapidly filled the air as the horses carrying the dwarves, James, Aviar took off, the wind blowing the hair on their heads back as the horses ran. Weapons were taken off backs and unsheathed the closer they got to the kingdom.

It was easy to enter the kingdom since the Frostland army wasn’t expecting to be attacked by a force of such great size. But the screams of men who were killed by the dwarves on horses were carried throughout Rosepost, alerting the others and the queen herself.

James, Aviar, and the dwarves fought as long as they could while mounted, swinging their swords at heads and impaling people with their spears. But eventually, their horses were struck and to the ground they fell. The sound of spears clanking against swords and men and dwarves screaming as they were brutally killed spread quickly.

Side by side Aviar and James fought. But after a while, Aviar lost sight of James. Once he noticed he was gone, his heart began pounding more than it already was.

Where did he go?

The battle continued, scattering bodies of humans and dwarves everywhere, covering both the ground and the ruins. But there were more fallen humans than dwarves. The Frostland army had shrunk in size, paving the way for victory for the dwarves.

Aviar stood in a clearing, panting uncontrollably as he wiped the splattered blood off his face. Though the war was still going on around him, he felt safe for a moment, letting his sword swing low in his hand. But his concern for James’ safety still existed. He looked as far as his eyes would allow him, trying his hardest to peer between the humans and dwarves, but still couldn’t see James. He even scoured the ground, fearful of the possibility of seeing James lying lifelessly on it. But amongst the bronze and white armor covering bodies of various sizes, he never once an armorless one.

A touch on his shoulder made his heart jump. He raised his sword as he turned around, but lowered it immediately after realizing it was King Bakdrel, a rather relieving sight despite most of his body being covered in blood.

“Where is your friend?” Bakdrel asked.

“I don’t know,” Aviar answered. “We were together at first, but we got separated as time went on.”

As the battle came to an end, the remaining Frostland soldiers fled or were killed. Everyone but Aviar began cheering and celebrating. Where could James have gone?

Once the cheering came to an end, Aviar could hear the faint sound of swords clanking.

“Do you hear that?” he asked Bakdrel after looking at him.

“Hear what?”

Aviar immediately followed the noise, with Bakdrel following behind him. The closer he got to the sound, the more its cause became apparent.

He saw James covering part of his stomach with one hand and his sword in his other as he struggled to fight Queen Sorlia, each touch of their swords seemingly weakening James more and more. Blood was pouring from his stomach between his fingers as he struggled to stand.

“James!” Aviar yelled as he and Bakdrel ran to help James.

From his hands he shot a large, shiny, orb of magic at Sorlia, knocking her straight to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Aviar frantically asked James, reaching his arm around James’ back and placing his hand on his shoulder as he looked down at James’ stomach. He placed his other hand over James’ hand which was covering the bleeding wound.

“Never better,” said James, dropping his sword.

Aviar looked up after hearing Queen Sorlia’s screams of pain. He saw that Bakdrel had driven the blade of his spear through her shoulder as she laid on the ground.

“Please!” she cried out. “I’ll leave!”

“Why did you attack the kingdom in the first place?” James managed to say.

Sorlia’s lips didn’t even flinch.

King Bakdrel began pushing his spear deeper into her shoulder.

“Answer his question and you can leave.” he yelled over her screams.

“It was a sorcerer!” she blurted. “He said if we joined him, we would be spared after he awakened some ancient beast. He wanted us to make sure Rosepost or any other kingdom wouldn’t get in the way.”

“Where is this sorcerer now?” questioned Aviar.

“He said he was going to Indora,” Sorlia answered. “Please! Let me go!”

Bakdrel pulled his spear from her shoulder and she immediately stood up and ran, covering the wound with her hand.

James then fell to his knees, barely able to keep his eyes open. Aviar’s hand was covered in blood, making it look as though his skin was bright red.

“He’s lost too much blood,” King Bakdrel stated. “He needs medical attention before it’s too late.”