Linea kneeled beside her best friend, whose skin was pale as a ghost. Her lips had turned blue and even if Linea wasn’t a trained healer yet, she imagined those symptoms to be bad.

“I’ve got no idea what you just did or how you killed them all so fast, but if I had known that, I wouldn’t have tried to be so conservative with my powers,” Aruna commented with a wry smile.

“Yeah, it was a breeze,” Linea replied dripping with sarcasm. “What should I do now? The same as earlier?”

“Yes, just be sure you can do it. When I stop my healing, her body won’t make it for long.”

“It’s all right, I can do it,” Linea said with confidence, much to the surprise of Aruna.

Linea then put her hands above the wound on Nora’s belly and took a deep breath. She flinched for a second, when a sweet, metallic scent entered her nose. She shook her head and focused back on her task.

Just like before, she searched for the Life Force of the goddess inside her and when she found it, she gave a small nod towards Aruna, who stopped her healing.

“Sulani sa Sethano panu Mura fa nurathi.”

The power suddenly ran through her arms and condensed before her palms. Instead of the white glow which Aruna had produced with her magic, Linea’s healing manifested as a small white globe, which filled out the wound. Strands of magic extended from the globe and entered Nora’s body. The first noticeable change was Nora’s skin regaining its color. After that the missing organs in Nora’s belly reconstructed themselves. The healing was rather fast, but to Linea, who had to keep up her concentration, it was tedious. Halfway through, the magic slipped away from her control. Noticing the mishap Linea cursed under her breath.

“It’s all right!” Aruna reassured her. “For the first time, you did extremely well. I can take over from here.”

And just like she said, she funneled her remaining power into Nora’s wound, which was only a flesh wound at that point.

“See if you can help the others. I have no idea how much power you have left, but perhaps you can help that poor guy, who lost his arm.”

Linea nodded and pressed a small kiss on Nora’s forehead.

After looking over the group of the remaining soldiers and guardsmen, she noticed that most of them, even if battered, were not seriously wounded. Apart from the man missing his arm.

They had lost four guardsmen and six of Lady Saliara’s soldiers. Linea would pray for them as soon as she could, but first she needed to attend to the living. She made a bee-line for the armless man, who was surrounded by his brothers in arms and Captain Evira.

“Lay him down and hold him,” Linea ordered and gently pushed some guardsmen out of the way. One of them wanted to protest, but he realized quickly, who had just ordered it.

They complied, and Linea got down on her knees, which sunk slightly into the blood-drenched forest soil. She looked the man in the face. To her surprise and admiration, the man looked rather composed. His face was white, and he clenched his teeth, when his fellow guardsmen lowered him to the ground.

“I apologize in advance as this might hurt,” Linea said. “I have little experience with regrowing limbs.”

“Can’t hurt much more than it already does, My Lady,” the man commented, which drew a smile on Linea’s face.

“All right, let’s do it,” Linea said and hovered her hands above the stump on his shoulder. “Sulani sa Sethano panu Mura fa nurathi.”

This time Linea noticed how much Life Force raced through her arms into the spell. She had no comparison, but from what she had seen of Aruna’s skills, the amount of power she was pouring into this man’s wound, must have been ridiculous.

Again, she saw a globe of white light enveloping the wound. White tendrils of light connected to the stump and Linea noticed how the magic guided her into extending her right hand towards the desired length of the arm. She followed this hunch, and the globe transformed into a tube. After a while the light took the form of an arm and even a hand could be discerned.

As the spell ended the man regained his natural skin color. With wonder in his eyes, he moved the new arm and examined it thoroughly.

“It seems I missed the skin tone somewhat,” Linea noted as she brushed over the point where the newly created arm had sprouted from the shoulder. There was a noticeable line, which separated the two parts. The arm was not as dark has his body.

“Are you kidding?” the man asked with glee in his eyes. “I thought I never be able to take up a weapon again. What would have become of my wife and my children? This is a miracle. Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Linea wasn’t surprised by the man’s enthusiasm, but what caught her off-guard was the hug, into which the man pulled her after sitting up.

“Thank you so much!” the man repeated, and Linea noticed a few tears dripping on her shoulder.

“You’re welcome,” Linea replied unsure how to react to a commoner crying on her shoulder.

A slight cough from behind, ripped them apart.

“Don’t get too comfy there, Tilandir,” Evira said with crossed arms. She didn’t look angry, but she wasn’t pleased either. “It’s still a princess you’re hugging.”

The man looked back and forth from Evira to Linea, and it finally dawned on him. After apologizing profusely and Linea reassuring him that everything was all right, Linea got up and pulled Evira with her.

“Any more casualties?” she asked and looked around.

“No, My Lady. The rest are uninjured apart from a few gashes. Nothing we can’t handle,” Evira answered but hesitated. She looked into Linea’s eyes. “Thank you for helping him. I know, you didn’t have to, but that makes it so much more honorable. We guardsmen have pledged our lives to protect you and your family. But being confronted with a crippling wound is terrifying for us. Unable to keep our vow to protect you with our lives. It’s an unspoken dishonor.”

Linea frowned at that.

“Nonsense. I couldn’t think more highly of someone like him.”

“And that’s what I’m thankful for.”

A smile escaped Linea, and she patted Evira on the back.

“Kind of cute, this motherly side of yours,” she noted to which Evira stiffened again. She looked like she wanted to dissent that notion, but as she saw how Linea poked her tongue out at her, Evira just rolled her eyes.

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A short time later, the group had gathered the last of the scattered horses, which had fled in panic. Tenasia reappeared after she had to chase after Minara, who had foolishly fled from the fighting in panic. The fallen had been strapped to the horses without a rider. They had decided to take them to Taldira to give them a proper ceremonial burial. As the smell of decay could become bothersome, so they had one of them guiding the horses a few meters behind them.

Nora was still unconscious, but Aruna had placed her in front on her horse. She wanted to keep an eye on the girl.

The rest of the night was tense as everyone half expected another attack. They send out a few soldiers as scouts, but to their relief they came up with nothing. The surrounding forest seemed quiet. Shortly after the sun had risen, they finally left the forest and saw the city of Taldira. The walls were at least double as high as the walls of Luna’sindranar. The only buildings even higher were the temple and the keep.

It took them nearly an hour to reach the city gates, in which the city had already sent an escort towards them comprising a twenty-man cavalry unit. The captain of the unit greeted the group and exchanged pleasantries with Senia. He obviously assumed that the older princess was in charge of their little group. Senia and Linea were both caught off-guard by this, but his assessment was only logical.

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Senia looked quizzically at Linea, who just shrugged. The older princess played along for now and requested an immediate meeting with the countess. The captain agreed and explained that the countess was already being informed.

After passing the city gates a large group of civilians cheered on them as they passed by them. The city guard did their best to keep the masses at bay, but it was clear that they hadn’t reckoned with such a crowd.

“Those people seem overly excited to see us…” Senia noted as she closed in on Linea.

“Indeed,” Linea agreed. “Any idea why they are so… joyous?”

Senia shook her head but looked at her sister intensely.

“Are we talking about what you did back in the forest?”

“Curious?” Linea asked and grinned. “I may not be as strong as you, but I’ve some tricks up my sleeve.”

“Are you going to be more precise?”

“Not now.”

Senia frowned at her, but she seemed to let the topic drop for now.

After the group had passed the initial crowd of people, the way got clearer. The followed the Countess’ men towards the keep.

“Linea?” Aruna caught up with her, which was difficult as Nora hindered her and the streets were rather narrow. “I will take the still injured men and Nora directly to the temple.”

Aruna motioned with her head towards the large building to their right.

“I’m concerned that Nora is still unconscious,” she explained further. “I don’t want to postpone it to get her checked by a trained healer.”

Linea just nodded, not trusting her voice. She hadn’t forgotten her fear when her friend had been wounded.

Aruna recruited some local guards to guide her and the few injured men towards the temple. The rest of the group reached the keep a short time later where Fenandir excused himself.

“I will start getting information about the current situation here before you intervene. I’ve a mission to fulfill after all,” he explained.

“All right, thank you for your help on the way here,” Linea said with a smile.

“Don’t mention it,” Fenandir replied with a bow. “I’ll see you guys later.”

Linea and Senia were greeted by a delegation of nobles and servants as they entered through the gates of the keep. Again, the nobles favored Senia over Linea, even if they tried to be not as blatant about it as the captain of the cavalry earlier.

Evira and four of her guards followed Senia and Linea as they were led into the keep. Lady Talura joined them while Baroness Saliara oversaw their lodging and resupplying.

Linea realized that the keep was also the replacement for a palace. While the keep of Luna’sindranar was primarily a defensive building, the keep of Taldira also contained the living quarters of the Countess and her family.

When they reached the parlor in which the Countess awaited them, Evira positioned her guards outside. Linea asked her and Lady Talura to wait.

“I want to talk with the Countess alone first,” she said with a smile. “When we’re planning our next steps, I’ll call you.”

Evira and Talura saluted, and Linea entered the parlor together with Senia. Inside a young woman in a dress armor awaited them.

“Your Royal Highnesses, it is an honor to welcome you to Taldira, even if I’d wish it would be under happier circumstances,” the Countess greeted them. “I must admit that I was not informed of two princesses coming to our aid.”

“That was a rather… spontaneous idea,” Linea said and threw a small glance at her sister, who blushed slightly. “On the other hand, I’m confused by your presence. I expected your mother to greet us. As far as I know, the Countess Nurina of Taldira is nearly as old as our mother. And you look way too young for that.”

The young woman’s face fell, and she turned away.

“My mother died a week ago in battle,” she explained tight-lipped.

“What?” Linea and Senia exclaimed in unison.

“How did that happen?” Linea followed up with the most pressing question.

“Let’s take a seat, and I will explain what happened here,” the young Countess suggested and motioned towards the fireplace and a few armchairs around it. She also rang a bell and ordered the servants to bring them refreshments.

“You’re Lalana, aren’t you?” Senia asked straight away. “Your sister is my court lady. She told my a few things about you and your mother.”

“Oh, I remember,” Lady Lalana said with a small smile. “Tinia wrote me how she got that position. Mother was both angry and pleased with it. She never liked us to be too far away from her. I guess it’s in the Taldirian nature to assume everything outside these walls to be deadly. How is my sister? Is she with you?”

At the last question her eyes sparkled with hope.

“No,” Senia admitted crestfallen. “I… She stayed behind.”

“Oh, that’s a shame,” Lady Lalana stated, but she didn’t stop smiling. “Well, perhaps it’s better this way. This place is most likely doomed anyway.”

“That sounds ominous,” Linea stated. “Can you explain to us what exactly is going on here? What happened to your mother?”

Now the smile on the Countess’ face disappeared.

“Shortly after we received the news of a princess coming to our help, the Torra infested the surrounding forest. We had to evacuate all villages and baronies, and some didn’t make it. The situation deteriorated quickly and soon it was like we were under siege. Torra ravaged the farms around the city with fast attacks of Torra. We didn’t have enough men to protect the city and the surrounding area. We evacuated as much people as we could, but without help we will starve out, eventually.”

Linea frowned. The degree of coordination under which the Torra operated concerned her. It was one thing to control a horde and make them attack a specific target. But controlling them enough to break off an attack after they went into a fighting frenzy was a whole other thing.

“We contacted Duke Turandir with a magical message to request assistance, but he brushed our concerns off as exaggeration. He decided that the human threat to the south was more important,” Lady Lalana explained with a dark face. “What a nice uncle he is, ignoring his sister’s call for help.”

“What happened then?” Linea urged her to continue.

“The situation grew worse every day. One day, the Torra slipped over the walls. They had help by the dark mage and we weren’t expecting it. They caused a lot of chaos inside the city. We killed them and added a magical shield to the walls to prevent that from happening again. Our mages are now working purely on keeping that shield alive. We tried to contact the duke again, but the magic was blocked somehow. We couldn’t get through. So, we sent a courier with an escort. We never heard of them again. Just like the next three couriers we sent.”

“They were intercepted,” Senia stated and Linea agreed with the idea. The orc had probably some experience in intercepting travelers on that route.

“That’s what we concluded. Mother gathered our strongest fighters. The best of the guards, the Void Hunters Guild and the mages. Only a token force stayed behind. They wanted to break through the blockade and return with reinforcements. A few days later an orc emerged from the forest and…”

She stopped and started to sob.

“He… He had the head of my mother on a stick and waved it in front of the main gate until I arrived. He wanted to negotiate with me. We would be allowed to leave the city unharmed if we were to surrender.”

“I’m so sorry about your loss,” Linea said and looked genuinely shocked about the vileness of that orc.

“That orc sounds like someone we met,” Senia noted.

That pricked up Lady Lalana’s ears.

“You’ve encountered him,” she stated.

“I killed him,” Linea corrected her.

“Really?” Lady Lalana asked and tears were flowing down her face. “I hope you made him suffer.”

“Kind of…” Linea said thinking about Sarah’s grave mistake in doing exactly that.

“Good.”

A short silence sat in.

“So, you followed your mother on her title?”

“I had to, of course. The nobles were in panic we would all die. They even urged me to surrender to this damned orc. I threatened them with execution for treason if they ever suggested such cowardice again!”

“Seems a bit harsh, but I can only imagine how hard it must have been for you,” Linea stated. “Has the dark mage made is appearance yet?”

“No, we haven’t seen him,” Lady Lalana admitted. “But the orc said he would come for us in…” she quickly calculated the time since the orc had brought her mother’s head, “… three days.”

  “That’s not much time for us to prepare,” Senia noted.

“Us?” Linea asked with a frown.

“Of course, I’m not letting you fight a dark mage alone,” Senia said and rolled her eyes.

“We’ll talk about that later.”

“So, you’ve got a plan?” Lady Lalana threw in.

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

Linea let herself fall down on the bed the Countess had provided her. Tenasia had helped her with her dress armor which was still dirty with dirt and blood. She had taken some time to apologize for Minara, who had panicked in the attack and ran away.

Linea wasn’t mad at her maid as the girl was never supposed to find herself in such a dangerous situation.

Now Linea crawled under the blankets and had Tenasia close the curtains. But sleep wasn’t coming so easily as suddenly Sarah made herself known again after being silent for the whole time since the attack.

‘I’m sorry, Linea…’ she said.

‘What for?’ Linea replied. ‘For risking Nora’s life by prolonging the fight unnecessarily? Or for letting the orc detonate that orb? Or for not talking to me the whole night?’

‘Yes.’

Linea expected more to come, but Sarah seemed to leave it at that.

‘At least, you realize that you screwed up big time,’ Linea said trying to provoke a more elaborated reaction from her soul-sister, but to no avail. Sarah stayed silent.

‘Come on, just admit that you messed this up,’ Linea said angrily.

‘I did. What else do you want to hear? I even apologized.’

‘Be that as it may, care to explain why in Luna’s name you didn’t simply rip his head off? All this drama could have been avoided.’

‘I don’t know,’ Sarah admitted. ‘It was my first real fight since I was caught back on Earth. I needed to vent some bottled-up frustration, I guess. And he hurt Nora! You can’t forget that!’

‘Don’t worry, I don’t think I will ever forget that…’ Linea said thin lipped.

They fell quiet for a few moments.

‘Your healing was impressive,’ Sarah said.

‘Thanks, your fighting as well, I hadn’t expected you to be so… effective.’

‘Years of training.’

Again, they fell silent.

‘I will address the most obvious thing here now,’ Linea said after a while. ‘What the hell was that sphere and what was that thing within?’

‘You felt that too?’ Sarah asked surprised.

‘Of course, it was only faint for me, but I noticed how it drew you in. When I noticed the Void leaking from that prison you had created, I panicked. I’m just glad, I managed to pull you back. I felt you nearly leaving our body. It was scary as hell.’

‘I… I don’t know what it was… And I don’t know, if I want to know.’

‘Don’t worry, in the end it worked out well. Somehow,’ Linea tried to reassure Sarah. ‘And to look at positive things, I learned something about us. Something that helped me to quell my fears enough to perform the healing.’

‘Care to share?’ Sarah asked curiously.

‘My biggest fear was that I may not be powerful enough to do what is expected of me. But I realized… I’m not supposed to fight the dark mage alone. I’ve got you.’

‘Well, yeah?’ Sarah said confused. ‘That’s what I told you already.’

‘Yes, but I didn’t know you could actually fight the dark mage. But after seeing you fight tonight… I know we can do anything. I want you to not underestimate this dark mage like the orc.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Sarah said grimly. ‘I’ll not hesitate or delay a kill ever again. This sphere, whatever that was, was a warning I will never forget.’