Prince Edward marched through a narrow mountain pass, followed by a platoon of 20 soldiers. The combination of his heavy armor, the rocky terrain, and the pouring rain had put him in a sour mood. He took solace in the fact that they were almost at their destination: the old military outpost that a gang of bandits made their home.

It came as a shock to hear that the bandits had destroyed the town of Whiteridge. They were well known in this region for harassing merchants crossing the Elordian border which was only a few hours away on foot, but they’ve never been known to go much farther than that away from their base. Burning down a town six days west over steep mountains and leaving no survivors seemed so… uncharacteristic of them. The issue prickled at the back of Edward’s mind.

Regardless of why the bandits chose to do it, it was Edward’s task to punish them for it. It was a long-standing tradition for every prince to serve as an army general once they turn 25 in order to be considered a ‘true’ heir to the throne. Edward had to begrudgingly admit that this was one of the few ancient traditions that made sense. As much as he’s dreaded serving his time, it was good that kings began their reign already having experience leading.

Especially with that awful war Father plans to start with Elordia.

Edward sincerely wished he could convince his father not to invade them, but the king was determined to make an enemy of their closest ally in the name of ‘conquest.’ Edward found himself missing his grandfather.

Edward’s introspection was interrupted by the top of a lookout tower coming into view. He signaled to his soldiers to be ready for a fight. This base was built in the late second era and designed to withstand ambushes and armies. If Edward could see the tower, it was more than likely that the bandits could already see them. Lucky for them that they were not aiming for stealth.

The grating sound of a platoon’s worth of swords being drawn all at once rang out and echoed through the mountain. They started moving at a slower, more careful pace and Edward could soon see that a bonfire was lit on the top of each of the three lookout towers he could see, likely meant to signal an attack on the base.

So they have spotted us. Why haven’t they come out to push us back yet?

They kept moving forward and soon they could see the entrance to the fort. The large wooden doors sat wide open. Edward signaled his men to stop.

Open? Had they not spotted us? And where are the guards? Wait, scorch marks on the door, the left one is nearly falling if it’s hinges… these weren’t left open, they were blown open. What is going on?

“Sir, look,” said Edward’s second in command, Jacob. Edward looked where he was pointing and saw several bodies lining the outer walls of the fortress, each wearing the ragged pelts and light armours that the bandits were known for wearing. “What do you think?”

“All signs seem to say that someone else got here before us,” said Edward. “We should be already fighting them by now. But I won’t discount the possibility of an ambush. What do you think?”

“Ambush is most likely, there isn’t a militia in the kingdom who could’ve cleared this place out unless the Elordians got here first. Awaiting orders, sir.”

Edward thought for a moment. “I’ll take half of the men into the fort to bait out any attackers. If it’s an ambush then they’ll surround us, and you and the rest of the men can flank them.”

Jacob nodded and moved to split the platoon in half. Edward drew his sword and slowly led his party through the open doors into an open courtyard. He was instantly hit with the smell of blood and burning flesh. As he got closer he could hear sounds of fighting, yelling, and screaming that was previously drowned out by the downpour.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard was a figure surrounded by three bandits. Though it was hard to make out through the cover of rain, the figure was holding a staff topped with a glowing red jewel. The ground around them was littered with corpses and flooded with blood. One of the still-standing bandits took a swing at the figure with a short sword but it was knocked out of the way with the butt of the staff. The figure aimed their staff at the attacker and the jewel began to glow brighter. A bright bolt of red light shot out from the jewel and impacted the bandit, who’s smoldering corpse fell to the ground.

Edward stood there, stunned as he watched the figure dodge out of the way of an attack from another bandit with a polearm. They pointed their staff at the bandit and the jewel grew brighter like before, but this time a solid stream of red light burst from the staff. In one swipe, the two remaining bandits were cut cleanly in half.

The figure took a moment to breathe, when an arrow shot from the top of one of the fort’s walls and embedded itself into their leg. They screamed in pain, Edward noted the female sounding voice. The figure nearly stumbled and fell, but caught herself by shoving the end of her staff into the ground. She shifted her weight, aimed her staff, and shot a burst of light that bore clean through the chest of the archer on the wall. She hesitated a moment, then dropped the staff and fell to her knees. She stared down at her hands, shaking.

“By the authority of the crown, slowly raise your hands in the air and come towards us,” Edward called out, shouting to be heard over the rain.

The figure quickly grabbed the staff and whipped around to face him. The red jewel began to glow and the raindrops that hit it were instantly turned to steam. Now that she was facing him, Edward could see that the figure had long red hair that was dirty and tangled, and her clothes were torn and bloodstained.

“Who are you?” The woman slowly stood, though Edward noticed she was favoring one leg.

“I am Prince Edward, son of King Alban,” he shouted. “We came to clear the bandits out of this fort. Drop your weapon and identify yourself!”

“I…” the woman swayed and stumbled. “I beat you to it.” The jewel stopped glowing and the woman collapsed to the ground.

----------------------------------------

Rosalie slowly faded into consciousness. She had aches and pains all over her body and she had a splitting migraine. She could tell she was under a blanket and laying on something soft. She could hear muffled voices on either side of her but couldn’t make out their words. She tried to open her eyes but couldn’t muster the strength. A horrible fuzzy feeling grew in her head, overtaking her thoughts. She fell back into unconsciousness.

Rosalie woke to find herself laying on a lumpy, uncomfortable surface. She could tell she was moving, but was also rocking up and down. She slowly tried to open her eyes and immediately regretted it. She was laying on her back, facing the open sky, and the light of the midday sun caused her head to hurt even worse than it already did. In the brief moment her eyes were open, however, she did see that she was on a horse’s back.

Well, that’s one mystery solved.

She tried to move, but found herself restrained; her arms and legs were tied down. Her heart rose into her throat and she began breathing quickly. She thrashed her arms about, desperate to be free. She felt a hand lightly grab her arm and she tried to shake it off. She heard a voice call out from beside her but she couldn’t make out what it said. With every move she made, the pain in her body twinged and her head throbbed. She felt another hand grab her other arm. Soon, the pain she felt was too much, and she lost consciousness yet again.

When Rosalie awoke for the third time, she was back to laying on something comfortable and under a blanket. She took stock of herself before trying to open her eyes. Her leg throbbed from where she barely remembered getting shot, her body ached, and her head hurt, but she felt considerably better than she did the last few times she woke up.

She tested if she was still restrained, but to her surprise, she was able to move her arms freely. She raised her hand to her head, and slowly opened her eyes. She was in a tent, and she could tell it was nighttime. She was laying on a cot under a wool blanket. There was a man sitting on a stool in the corner who noticed her movement.

“Oh good, you’re awake. My name Cedric, I’m your medic. How are you feeling?”

Rosalie found it difficult to speak, but eventually pushed out, “Like shit.”

Cedric chuckled. “I imagine so, it looks like you took quite a beating. Is there anywhere the pain is particularly bad?”

“Head,” she croaked. “Leg.”

“I’ll fetch you a wet rag to try to help your head, but unfortunately there’s nothing more I can do for your leg until it’s time to replace the bandages.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Will it—“ Rosalie breathed heavily. “Will the leg be ok?”

“Yes, luckily the arrow didn’t hit anything important. You should have no trouble walking again once it heals.”

Rosalie nodded and internally thanked each of the gods.

“Prince Edward would like to speak with you,” Cedric said. “Would you feel up to that?”

Oh, that’s right. There was a Prince.

“No, but I’ll do it anyway.”

Cedric chucked and left the tent, returning with a wet rag and the man she vaguely remembered being at the outpost. Cedric placed the rag on her forehead, bowed to Prince Edward, and left the two of them alone.

“Where am I,” Rosalie asked after a moment.

“About two days out from the capital,” said Edward. “You’ve been in and out of consciousness for a few days, so we’re taking you to a doctor with more resources than our army medic.”

“Am I under arrest?”

Edward chuckled. “No, of course not. It’s well within your right to get up and leave, but I’d rather you don’t. I have questions I’d like answers to.”

“Then why was I tied to a horse?”

“I apologize for that. We restrained you so you wouldn’t fall off or open a wound moving in your sleep. Now, what’s your name?”

“Rosalie Hawthorne.”

“Nice to meet you, Rosalie. I’m Edward Paxton.”

“I gathered as much.”

Edward smiled. “So, Rosalie. I must say I’m very impressed by what you’ve done. You single handedly took out a bandit outpost that we brought twenty soldiers to deal with. How did you do it?”

“I—” Rosalie paled. It had only just settled in what she’d done. She killed people. She killed a lot of people. Fairly gruesomely too, from what she could remember. The whole thing was all very hazy to her, and she could only remember a few snippets. She was fueled by adrenaline, yes, but also something else… something darker.

“I, umm…” She looked at her hands. There was blood on them, and quite a lot of it too. She wiped them on the blanket, but it wouldn’t come off. She rubbed them together, but the blood wouldn’t move. “It won’t…” She began to cry. She kept rubbing and wiping, desperate to get the blood off. Edward came to her side, now concerned. She looked at him with tears in his eyes. “It won’t… The blood won’t come off,” she said through choked sobs.

Edward gently took one of her hands. “Hey, Rosalie. Look at me, ok?”

Rosalie squirmed a moment, but focused on him.

“There’s no blood, I promise you.” He pulled up a stool and sat next to her. “Close your eyes and breathe. Can you do that for me?”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Good, focus on my voice. Deep breaths, in and out. You’re doing great. Now, when you open your eyes, your hands will be clean, ok?”

Rosalie slowly opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. They were clean, as if there had never been anything there at all. She took a shaky breath.

“How are you feeling,” asked Edward.

“I’m… I’m ok. My staff usually helps me to not… see things.”

“Do you see things often?”

She nodded. “Never like that before… It’s usually with fire. I—” She turned away from him. “I was in Whiteridge.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry.” His voice was sad.

Rosalie didn’t know how to reply. His sympathy was appreciated, but it didn’t help much at all. She sat in silence for a few minutes, looking anywhere but at the prince.

“Wait,” she said, sitting up and looking around. “Where is my staff?”

“It’s right outside the tent,” said Edward. “What is that thing anyway?”

Rosalie shrugged and laid back down. “I don’t know. Just found it after the bandit attack.”

“You seem very skilled with it for only having it a short while,” said Edward, impressed.

“It’s not really skill.” Again, Rosalie shrugged. “It… tells me what to do.”

“What?”

“Well, it doesn’t speak or anything. But I can feel it sometimes. It tells me what it wants me to do. I can ignore it if I want but, like in the fort, I just let it guide me.”

“If I hadn’t seen you use it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed you,” Edward chuckled. “But, I must say, that does sound a little concerning, don’t you think?”

Rosalie sighed. “Maybe a little. It’s what I needed though. It makes the visions stop and, well, I needed strength.”

Edward nodded, and thought for a moment. “Rosalie, would you be willing to see my father? I’m sure he’d want to hear about this, and he would likely reward you for what you’ve done for the kingdom.”

Rosalie looked down at her hands, shaking very slightly. “I don’t want a reward for this.”

“What is it you do want?”

She pondered the question. She had gotten what she wanted, the bandits were gone. She didn’t feel any better, though, and couldn’t even think about what she had done to them. She had spent a week trekking through mountains on foot in a fit of revenge, and now has spent nearly the same amount of time unconscious as a consequence. In all that time, she had never bothered to question what she would do next.

Have I learned anything from this? How can I move on from what they took from me… or what I did to them? What do I want?

“I want to protect people,” she decided. She couldn’t protect her family or her town, but now she had power.

Edward smiled and nodded sharply. “How would you feel about joining us?”

“Hmm?” That was not the response she was expecting. “What do you mean?”

“Well the final decision would go to my father, but someone who can do what you can do would be a huge asset in the army. Protecting and helping people is in the job description.”

“Joining the military…” The thought didn’t exactly appeal to Rosalie. Edward seemed like a trustworthy and nice person, but she didn’t exactly agree with his father on most things.

Wait, why is Edward being so nice to me? He doesn’t… He’s not like… into me, is he? He doesn’t seem like the type who’d get a girl in that kind of situation, but I have to make sure.

“Edward…” She grimaced, trying to find a way to phrase the question. “You don’t have anything… personal to gain from keeping me around, do you?

Edward knitted his eyebrows together and stared into nothingness. A moment later, his face lit up with realization and he smacked his forehead. “OHH! No no no, I’m so sorry if I gave you that impression. I actually—” He looked around to see if anyone was listening, and leaned in. “Promise you won’t tell anybody?”

Rosalie nodded, now incredibly confused.

Edward lowered his voice and chuckled awkwardly. “You’re actually not my type, if you get what I’m saying.”

Now it was Rosalie’s turn to process what he was saying.

Not his type… not his type… I don’t— OH! Rosalie felt as though every slightly confusing aspect of the prince suddenly made an incredible amount of sense.

“Oh,” she practically shouted. “You’re into—” Edward dramatically shushed her, so she lowered her voice. “You like men?”

He nodded sheepishly.

“You really had me worried,” Rosalie laughed, for maybe the first time in weeks. “You know, guys aren’t exactly my type.”

Edward laughed with her. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody.”

“You better not, Paxton,” Rosalie sighed, then giggled some more. “Anyway, what were we talking about?”

“Oh, I asked you if you’d like to join us. You said you wanted to protect people, and I think with some training you’d be able to do a lot of good with us.”

“Do a lot of good, huh?” Rosalie studied Edward, trying to gauge his sincerity. She’d heard many things about the prince: that he’s very kind, that he’s very good at planning and strategy, and that he’s a good leader.

Very much unlike the things said about his father… If Edward is as good as they say, maybe he’s right.

“Joining the military… I gotta say, it’s something that’s never even crossed my mind before.” She relented. “If I join, I’m going to be fighting to protect people, not for glory and not even for the king.”

Edward smiled. “That’s why I’m here too. That, and I was kind of forced to be here. I do want to stress that I’m not forcing you to do anything though, you don’t even need to have an answer right now.”

Some of the tension in Rosalie’s shoulder drained away. “I’ll think about it, yeah? I’ll have an answer by the time we get to the capital.”

“Pardon me, Prince Edward, sir,” came the voice of Cedric from outside the tent. “It is time for me to change the patient’s bandages.”

“Ah,” Edward got up and opened the tent for the medic. “It was nice talking to you, Rosalie. Get some rest, we’ll be up and moving again at first light.”

“Night, Paxton,” Rosalie said with a wave.

Edward left the medic to his patient, and Cedric replaced the bandages on Rosalie’s leg. He asked her a few questions about pains and potential allergies, gave her some medicinal tea, and left to let her sleep.

With some time alone, Rosalie checked the state of herself for the first time in nearly a week. Her hair had been washed, letting the brilliant deep red color shine through. She had been given clean, if slightly too large, clothes to wear. They had bandaged her feet which were scraped and blistered from her six day hike through the mountains, and they had even dressed the burn she had on her leg from the night before she left Whiteridge. She was still tired and sore, but, for the first time since the bandits attacked her village, she finally felt like a person again.

Talking was good. Laughing was great. Rosalie smiled to herself. I hadn’t realized how lonely I had been.

Join the military, huh? It’s not like I have anywhere else I would go. I could protect people in the army. Not only that, I would have people with me; comrades. I wouldn’t be alone anymore.

Rosalie allowed her contemplation to be interrupted as she succumbed to her exhaustion. She drifted to sleep with a smile on her lips.