‘Please, can you explain why we’ve ordered two dozen claymores from the Enchanters’ Guild?’ Linea asked with a sigh. ‘I mean, if you need a weapon, why don’t you use my Fulchar?’

‘Because I need more mass against those Torra,’ Sarah explained. ‘I’ve noticed back in the forest that just ripping their heads off drains a lot more power than cutting them.’

‘And holding twenty-four heavy swords is less taxing?’ Linea asked.

‘Yes, it is,’ Sarah said. ‘Connecting to an object is the exhausting part of my telekinesis. If I grab every Torra, I’ll be out of power in no time.’

‘But holding onto the same swords all the time makes it easier,’ Linea concluded.

‘You’ve got it.’

While they discussed Sarah’s odd choice of weaponry, Linea let Minara help her get out of her dress armor. After changing into her nightgown, she snuggled into her bed. Tenasia brought her a calming tea and placed it onto her nightstand.

“Thank you, Tenasia,” she said and smiled at her chamber woman. “That’d be all.”

“As you wish, My Lady,” Tenasia answered. “I wish you a good day.”

Linea just nodded and took the leathery book from her nightstand. It was the diary of Saria, the first chosen, that High Priestess Nasinia had given her. Linea had read the first chapters already on their travel to Taldira. She had realized that the book was not a diary but an auto-biography. It was a well-written and structured book instead of a day-to-day listing of events.

The first chapters had described Saria’s early life. How she grew up in poverty and as an orphan. She never learned about her parents and lived in an orphanage of the Sisterhood of Luna. As she grew older, she got caught up in some nasty criminal activities, which she didn’t describe further. Saria only described how she was thrown out of the orphanage at thirteen. She lived in the streets and did odd jobs for everyone, who wanted to hire her.

If Linea was honest to herself, the first chapters were not that good as a read. It was interesting, but not ground shaking. It was only when she reached the chapter about her blessing she found something extraordinary.

‘That’s interesting,’ Linea said to Sarah. ‘She describes the process just as it happened to me. With the ritual and everything. But the pages about the process of her being blessed are empty.’

She skimmed through a few pages which had nothing written on them. Only a crescent moon was painted on all of them. The writing only resumed with the next chapter.

‘That’s odd,’ Linea added.

‘True,’ Sarah agreed. ‘Why didn’t the high priestess say anything about it? I mean it’s pretty obvious.’

Linea pondered about the question.

‘What if she did not notice it?’ Linea asked.

‘What do you mean? How could you not?’

Linea closed her eyes and put a hand on one page.

‘I… I can feel trace amounts of magic,’ she noted with a frown. ‘Perhaps there is an illusion spell embedded into these pages?’

‘But why can we see it then?’

‘Well, because we’re blessed just like she was?’ Linea guessed.

Sarah was silent for a moment.

‘Makes sense… Try activating our blessing. That glowing thing?’ Sarah proposed.

Linea did that and to her relief, letters filled the pages.

‘That’s pretty clever, actually,’ Sarah noted. ‘First, she let the words disappear and then the pages themselves. Whatever she wrote there must be important.’

Linea and Sarah read through this part of the chapter and with every page their astonishment grew. When they reached the end, both went silent for a few minutes.

‘Why didn’t Luna mention this to us?’ Sarah asked when she had ordered her thoughts. ‘I mean Saria had the same problem as we have! A split soul and everything!’

‘I don’t know…’ Linea said and put down the book. ‘I understand that the goddess asked her for help because of this disease that spread throughout the country. Perhaps that’s why she chose Saria. A quid pro quo.’

‘Well, Saria wasn’t the most obedient person in her early years,’ Sarah agreed. ‘This should have been a good incentive to motivate her. But why not taking someone more willing in the first place?’

Linea had no answer to that. The whole revelation didn’t make much sense to her. The strangest thing was that Luna had withheld that information from them.

‘We need to ask her the next time, we have the opportunity,’ Sarah stated. ‘Something is fishy.’

‘What… What if Saria is our missing fourth part?’

‘How would that be possible?’ Sarah asked. ‘She died over two hundred years ago.’

‘Perhaps she got stuck in this limbo you told me about,’ Linea argued.

Sarah had to think about that for a moment.

‘I don’t think so. Luna mentioned that she would join us after we found Shira. They must have talked at some point. And I don’t think Luna would be so cruel to leave her in limbo for over two hundred years.’

‘True…’ Linea said. ‘But why didn’t she tell us?’

‘Yeah, I asked that question already,’ Sarah said and rolled her imaginary eyes. ‘We need to ask her as soon as we can.’

Before they could talk more about the topic, someone in the city blew a horn.

‘What was that?’ Sarah asked.

‘Don’t tell me the attack is starting already,’ Linea said and got up from her bed. She walked over to one of the small windows and looked over the rooftops of the city, but she didn’t see anything.

After a few minutes in which even more horns were blown, someone knocked at her door.

“Who is there?” Linea yelled through the room.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Captain Evira, My Lady!”

“Come in.”

Evira entered and with a quick look around the chamber, she verified that no one else was there and that Linea wasn’t in danger.

“We have received the message that the enemy is gathering at the northern gate.”

“Bastard. He doesn’t even wait as long as he said. And he attacks in the morning,” Linea complained. “Minara! Tenasia!”

After a few minutes her maids entered the room. They looked disheveled, but Linea had no time to reproach them for it.

“Ready my dress armor,” she ordered. “And Evira, I need four of your men to go to the Enchanter’s Guild. The enchanters promised me that the weapons would be finished in time. They need to hurry and get those swords ready. We’ll meet your men at the wall.”

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

On their way to the northern wall, worried citizens crossed their path on their way towards the keep. Linea picked up murmurs about doomed cities and imminent death. But no one tried to leave the city in panic as far as Linea saw. She found the Taldirian’s tenacity admirable.

When they reached the wall, they met up with the others. Lady Talura had already given orders to the army and was instructing Lady Saliara, who had taken up the role of the cavalry’s leader. Her second in command was Lady Tira, who was arguing with Nora.

“No, you will not stay here!” Lady Tira yelled.

“That’s not for you to decide!” Nora countered just as heated.

“I don’t have children yet. If anything happens to me, I need you to take up the leadership of the barony,” Lady Tira explained but Linea saw that Nora wasn’t even listening.

Lady Tira was about to argue further when Nora noticed Linea’s approach.

“Lin! Tell my sister that I can stay at the wall. I couldn’t stand to wait for both of you in the keep.”

As Linea was about to answer, Sarah stopped her.

‘Think twice about it,’ she said. ‘It may be lethal for us, if she gets hurt. You could panic again, and we know how that would end. I need you to stay calm and let me handle this. She can’t provide us anything in battle. Don’t let her stay just so she can feel better.’

Linea sighed. She felt Sarah was right, but she also knew Nora would take that personal.

“I’m sorry, Nora,” she said. “I can’t concentrate on the fight, if I have always one eye on you.”

“But you wouldn’t need to…” Nora tried to argue, but Linea raised her hand to interrupt her.

“I know I don’t need to, but I would. You’re far too important for me.”

“But if I just stay back and just watch…”

“Nora, enough,” Linea said but this time she used a more forceful voice. “I have decided. Please go to the keep and stay there.”

Nora looked like she was about to yell at Linea, but she kept quiet. She hesitated for a second, but then she pulled Linea into a hug.

“Please, watch over my sister,” she said.

“Of course,” Linea answered.

Nora hugged her sister as well and looked back at Linea as she hoped that Linea would have changed her mind. But Linea was sure about her decision.

After Nora had left with militia men, Linea discussed a few tactical things with Lady Talura and Lady Tira. She examined the cavalry and saw Lady Saliara and her men with them. She waved at the baroness who waved back at her. Lady Tavana and Lady Sivala were with the cavalry as well.

The horses stood lined up behind the closed gate. The plan provided that the armored cavalry would sally through the gate as soon as the Torra would have been occupied at the wall or pushed back. In case the Torra made their way over the wall, the cavalry would dismount and fight the Torra in the city. The armored knights were in a disadvantage on the wall, but in the narrow street they would be more effective.

Linea and her guard made their way up to the wall together with Lady Talura, who briefed her on the way.

“The free mages have already arrived together with the Hunters,” Lady Talura explained. “Aruna and a few volunteers from the temple are already on their way. We have established a small field hospital in the gatehouse where one of the Void Huntresses will give first aid. We requisitioned a tavern down the road where the priestesses will stay to treat the more seriously wounded.”

“Fantastic,” Linea said. “Where is the militia positioned?”

“We distributed most to the other gates. Fifty men guard the keep under the command of Lady Lalana’s guards.”

“Good. The other troops?”

“On their way,” Lady Talura said. “The archers and most of the crossbowmen are already on the wall. We hadn’t expected the enemy to be so early, but I placed their quarters at a central point for a faster reaction.”

“We shouldn’t have expected him to be true to his word. On the other hand, he could have made his approach be more subtle.”

They reached the top of the gatehouse where the Huntress already instructed different people, how they would treat and classify the different wounds. She didn’t even notice Linea’s entrance and Linea didn’t want to interrupt. She motioned Lady Talura to get on the wall.

On the wall were many people. From the archers and crossbowmen to mages, sorcerers, Hunters and even Fenandir.

“Look, who is still here!” Linea said and patted Fenandir on his shoulder. “Missed me?”

Fenandir snorted.

“Of course, My Lady,” he said and looked over the wall again. “Even though, I had wished our next meeting to be slightly more romantic. With candle light, music and a good Rivanian wine.”

“If you survive and be useful in this fight, I could be persuaded,” Linea said with a wink. Not that she entertained the thought of courting the man. She saw at it more like a little game between them.

“You know what? If you kill more Torra than me, I’ll give you the honor of a date,” she challenged him.

He laughed.

“Is the offer limited to him?” Lady Lalana asked from the side, which resulted in a few more laughs.

Linea checked Lady Lalana ostentatiously. The Countess was certainly a beauty in her own rights. She was not dazzling or flashy, but she was athletic and had sizable boobs.

“I would make an exception for you.”

Even more laughs. Linea chuckled about how relaxed everybody seemed despite the threat in front of their walls.

‘Well, I guess Lalana is more your type than Fenandir,’ Sarah note with a mental smirk. ‘Boobs and all…’

‘Shut up,’ Linea replied. Not thinking about Sarah’s remark, she gazed over the battlement and gulped.

She had expected a lot of enemies, but what she saw exceeded even her wildest imaginations.

“We tried to count them, and we estimate them to be at least ten thousand monsters strong,” Lady Lalana whispered.

“That’s more than I thought,” Linea admitted. “And what’s with that shimmer behind them?”

She pointed at something at the right side of the enemy army. If one looked closely, a flickering, not unlike hot air breaking the light, hovered behind the horde of Torra.

“The mages aren’t sure, but whatever it is, we will keep an eye on it.”

Linea nodded in agreement.

“Are those people?” she asked confused as another gaze over the enemy made her aware of another oddity. “I can’t see them clearly, but there in the middle behind the army. Is that a group of humans?”

“Those are orcs, My Lady,” Fenandir interjected from the side. “The dark mage must be powerful to corrupt so many people.”

He came closer and whispered into Linea’s ear, “I suspect a few to be relatives of the natives here. I suggest eliminating them from afar before they can lower the morale of our troops.”

“This bastard,” Linea said. “Thank you for warning me, but doesn’t that go against your mission to just observe?”

Fenandir chuckled and gave her a smile.

“If I die here, because you didn’t have all the necessary information, I can’t report back to your brother,” he explained.

“You’re as selfless as ever,” Linea said and rolled her eyes.

Fenandir bowed and grinned at Linea.

Linea focused back on the enemy who still hadn’t moved closer to the city. They had taken a position on the edge of the forest and waited for some reason. Linea turned away and searched for Sir Bilundir, who stood further along the wall instructing his novices including Senia.

“All right, this is it,” he said to the young Moon Elves, who had lined up around him. “I wish we would have trained you more before this, but the enemy probably feared that. How could he win against the best that Taldira has to offer!”

The novices cheered and nodded. Only Senia looked unconvinced.

“We will fight in two phases,” he explained. “At first, we will attack together with the archers from above, when they come to the wall. Everyone should be proficient enough with the bow by now. Does anyone think that is archery skills are not enough for this?”

No one raised his hand.

“Good. If the wall should be overrun by the Torra, we will pull back with the other archers and regroup. We will go into melee combat from then on, depending on where Lady Talura or Princess Linea need us.”

Linea walked over to them and pulled Senia aside. She hesitated for a moment as she didn’t know how to start this conversation.

“I’m still mad at you,” Senia said and crossed her arms. “Putting me with all those novices.”

“But you are a novice yourself. What did you expect me to do?”

“I don’t know, some special role fitting my station.”

Linea massaged her nose bridge.

“I can’t believe that you’re supposed to be the older sister,” Linea said. “This is not about glory. This is about survival. And not just our survival. If we fail here, the whole city will be in ruins and everyone will die. So, get your shit together and do what you’re told!”

Senia looked furious and turned away from Linea. Before she could leave, Linea grabbed her arm and held her back.

“Wait,” she said. “Please, don’t be mad at me… I just want you not to get hurt.”

Senia didn’t answer at first, instead she threw a glance at Linea.

“Well, I’ll try,” she said and went back to her group. After a few steps, she turned around again.

“Good luck, sister,” she said.