“Happy birthday, by the way,” Tarina said as she, Shandir and Linea rode between the lines of soldiers back to their position.

“Huh?” Linea answered.

“I said ‘happy birthday’,” Tarina repeated and chuckled. “Did you forget your birthday again?”

“I…” Linea stuttered. Thinking about it, it was in fact the middle of the summer. She hadn’t even spared a thought for her birthday. “Thank you and yes, I may have forgotten my birthday.”

“Again!” Shandir said and smirked at her. “It’s the same as every year. You’re so absorbed with something you forget important things like this.”

“To be fair, this year I have every reason to be distracted,” Linea replied without joining their amusement.

Her siblings stopped smiling.

“Still, can we get you something for your birthday?” Shandir asked.

“The head of that slimy general,” Linea said and looked back at the human army that stood on a hill opposite side of the fields in front of the city. The humans had even pulled back all their blockading units away from the city to reinforce the main army. But to the Moon Elves' surprise, Duke Turandir didn’t send out any forces to join their army. A messenger had cleared that confusion as Turandir was still preparing his forces and would join the fight as soon as he could.

“I’ll see what can be done,” Tarina said.

The army that Shandir had brought from the north was four thousand men strong. They were a mix of the northern part of the Royal Army and fresh conscripts from all over the country. The Royal Army was battle-hardened and highly skilled, but after losing the southern part, their confidence was shaken. The conscripts were even worse morale-wise. Their queen had been captured, and they faced an army that had bested their most experienced forces. Tarina’s speech a few minutes ago had only done so much. In fact, it was Linea’s appearance that gave them a much-needed boost. She was the chosen one and the knights from Taldira had spread the word of the Angel of Taldira as they called her, apparently.

On the positive side of things, the humans had received no reinforcement from the empire yet. Their four thousand men stood in line roughly seven hundred meters away. Close enough for mages, but the humans had their own mages from what Tovandir had told them.

“All right, I’ll head to the other healers,” Linea said as they reached the back of their lines. “And Shandir? Keep Tira close to you. I don’t want to explain Nora, how you got her sister killed.”

“No promises in war, but I'll try, sister dearest,” Shandir replied with an unmoving face.

“I know… just… try to keep her out of trouble.”

Linea rode further back to a tent with an open rose in a circle painted on it. She dismounted from Minu and entered the tent. Her six guards waited outside as it would have gotten rather cramped inside.

“Your Grace!” a priestess named Silia called for her. Linea walked over to her and the other six healers, who stood around a table.

“We’re planning on how to work in this battle,” Silia explained. “We’ve never worked together and I’m the only one with some kind of battlefield experience. Our hope was you would have some insight for us?”

The seven healers looked at Linea hopefully.

“I’ve never healed in combat before,” Linea admitted, “but in Taldira we had two stations. A first aid station near the initial battlefield and a field hospital in an inn close by. It seemed to have worked well.”

“So, we should stay here and heal everyone, who is brought here, while some of us are directly at the battlefield?” Silia asked.

“More or less,” Linea said. “I will do the first aid as I have a lot of power to spare and I should be able to patch up many people without them even having to go back here. Two of you and a group of soldiers will help me to transport the injured back here. One of the two will go with those transports to watch over the patients.”

Linea made up this plan after she had witnessed the efficiency of this system in Taldira. The Void Huntress who had proposed this system had proven it to be effective.

“I’ll go with you!” a short, dark-haired priestess said and raised her arm.

“Me too,” the tallest of the group said.

“All right, you will stay with me,” Linea pointed at the short woman, and then at the taller one. “And you have the transport duty. What are your names?”

“I’m Pinia,” the short priestess said.

“Luva,” the taller woman added.

“Good, I’m Linea,” she said and some healers chuckled, but Linea looked at them with a serious face. “Please, refrain from using any honorifics in battle. We don’t have time for that.”

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Linea checked her eye bandage for the third time as she stood on top of the hill at Tarina’s side.

“Nervous,” her sister asked without taking her eyes of the enemy army.

“Yes,” Linea admitted in a quiet voice. “I have a bad feeling somehow…”

Tarina frowned. “Anything specific?”

“No… just… a bad feeling.”

They fell silent. Shandir returned from their left flank where the cavalry was positioned.

“Everything is ready,” he reported. “The humans can come.”

“It is noon,” Linea said as she checked the sun’s position. “He said, the attack would begin at noon.”

As if she had commanded it, the enemy started moving. To their surprise instead of marching on their position, the enemy moved on the city.

“What are they doing?” Tarina asked with wide eyes. “Are they stupid? They can’t expect to break the city and dealing with us at the same time…”

Shandir looked similar surprised.

“Well, in that case, we’ll wait for now. Let them grind against the cities defenses first,” he explained. “We’ll intervene, if they make progress.”

They watched the humans nearing the city walls. As expected they had magical shields up to protect them from the rain of arrows. After a few volleys Avandir’s defenders stopped their fire as it bounced off harmlessly.

“I wished they would keep on firing…” Shandir noted. “It would deplete their mana more.”

“I’m more concerned that there is absolutely no magical bombardment from within the city,” Tarina said. “What is Turandir doing?”

“Perhaps he wants to conserve power?” Linea suggested.

“For what?” Tarina argued. “For him it’s either winning or losing. He can’t withdraw from the battle like us.”

Out of the blue Linea got a bone chilling feeling from the human army. Something she had gotten accustomed to in the last few weeks.

“Void magic!” she yelled, and her eyes widened.

“What?” Tarina and Shandir asked and their heads jerked towards her. Linea just pointed at the human army.

A dark lightning jumped from the back lines into the city wall in front of the human army annihilating a large chunk of the wall.

“What the hell was that?” Shandir yelled.

“They have a dark mage!” Linea answered, and her premonition got even darker. “This is bad… This may be why there are no spells coming from the city. Depending on how powerful the dark mage is, he may stop them from casting altogether.”

“We need to attack,” Shandir said. He gave signs to the trumpeter at his side. A quick signal with his trumpet prompted their army to move forward.

Linea’s pulse raced as they walked towards the human army. Tanus had noticed their advance and veered his army around to face them. Perhaps he had hoped to take the city by surprise, but the approaching Elven army seemed to intimidate the humans enough to force a reaction.

“All right, Tarina,” Shandir said. “You know the plan. Force them back from the city. Give Turandir the opportunity to join us. I’ll take the cavalry to flank them.”

Tarina nodded and Shandir rode away.

It took them some time to close the distance. Linea had feared that the dark mage would prevent them from defending themselves with an anti-arrow shield, but it seemed that he had run out of Void-Energy.

Linea and her first aid group followed the army together with Tarina. When the two armies were only fifty meters apart, another horn was blown from the left flank. It was the signal for a charge attack. The first lines started running and clashed with the humans shortly after.

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Loud screams of pain and war cries echoed over the field. As Linea looked around to spot any injured being pulled back.

Spells and arrows flew over their heads, but the shields on both sides seemed to stay strong. It ultimately came down to the infantry fighting it out on the battlefield. And here the difference between elves and humans became clear. Even though the forces had roughly the same numbers, they pushed the humans back. As the line of battle moved backwards, injured soldiers lay on the field.

“Let’s get working!” Linea yelled to her group. The soldiers and two priestesses followed her even though she was faster on her horse. Her guards went with her and when she dismounted, one of them took Minu’s reins.

The injured soldiers were spread across the whole battlefield and Linea was unsure where to start. She looked around and the rusty smell of blood filled her nostrils. A pained scream from her left side prompted her to react. She ran over to the man, who held his hands over his stomach.

Linea kneeled down beside him.

“What’s your name, soldier?” she asked him to distract him.

“Tul- Tuldadir,” he said weakly.

“All right, Tuldadir,” Linea replied with a forced smile. “I’ll heal you. Just take your hands off your wound.”

He did as she asked hesitantly. Linea started her incantation, and the wound closed itself. The soldier touched his stomach in disbelief.

“That was fast…” he said.

“That’s what I do,” Linea explained. “We all have to do our part in defending our lands. I heal, and you kill humans. Can you do that for me?”

“Of- of course!” Tuldadir said.

“Off you go then,” Linea said with a genuine smile this time. She stretched her hand out and help him get up. In the meantime, the rest of her group had arrived.

“Luva, Pinia,” she said to them. “Take half of the men each and search for survivors. Ignore the humans, only our men. Put those with injuries that would render them unable to fight for a while on the carts. The others to me.”

They spread out and started their work.

The battle dragged on for an hour with no decisive victory on any side. The initial advantage of the Moon Elves had subsided as they had pushed the human army up their hill. But the higher position evened out their battle strength. And Shandir had not been able to break through the flank yet.

Linea was just working on the arm of a soldier which had been smashed by something when yells started around them. Linea looked up to watch for the source of the commotion. People pointed at the city, and Linea saw the gate being opened.

“Finally, the duke honors us with his presence,” Linea murmured. The fight would have been easier, if the duke hadn’t waited so long to make a move. At least the cavalry, which exited the city, would be helpful to end this battle.

“They come to our position,” one guard said.

“That idiot should go to the right flank instead,” Linea cursed and looked for her sister, who stood roughly hundred meters to her left with her guards. She couldn’t read her expression from this distance, but Linea guessed her to be as pissed.

“What are they doing?” the guard said confused and pointed at them.

Linea’s head jerked around and confused she watched as the cavalry charged at them with raised swords.

“What the…” Linea yelled, but as the cavalry reached them a guard pushed her out of the way of a lance to protect her. However, the guard was impaled through the chest and blood sprayed all over Linea.

“No!” Linea cried out in horror. Duke Turandir and his men cut down the guards and Linea's first aid troop fast and they charged even further into the back of their front lines.

Linea pushed the dead guard away from her and pulled herself up. She unsheathed her Fulchar and looked around. A part of the cavalry of Duke Turandir had detached from the main force and came back for her. Linea saw also how the humans suddenly pushed through the lines at their left side with magical explosions.

Before Turandir’s troops could reach her however, Tarina interjected them with her guards. As the two small cavalry units clashed a lot of the horses slammed into each other taking their riders down with them. Linea looked around searching for Minu. A few feet from her, she noticed her mare’s armor lying in the mud.

“No…” Linea whispered. “No, no, no!”

She ran over to Minu and placed a hand on her flank. She didn’t breathe. Linea had no idea what was wrong with her, but it didn’t matter. She chanted her incantation, but nothing happened.

“No, please… Not Minu!” she pleaded and tried to cast the healing spell again.

Again, nothing changed.

Tears streamed down Linea’s face as she put her forehead against Minu’s body.

“I’m so sorry…” she sobbed and caressed Minu.

She kneeled for a short moment, but finally she glanced over the battlefield. They still had a war to win. Tarina was involved in a fight with a taller Moon Elf. Linea guessed him to be Duke Turandir.

She drew her Fulchar and marched in their direction. Tarina was holding her ground as good as she could, but it was obvious that Turandir was the more experienced fighter. A fact, which should have stopped Linea from even attempting what she was about to do. With a quick look to their left flank, she saw that the lines had broken and Shandir was being pushed away from them.

“Hey!” Linea yelled when she looked back at Turandir. “You traitorous son of a bitch!”

Turandir gazed at her, and Tarina tried to use the distraction, but Turandir managed to evade. Linea reached them with a sprint and attacked the duke as well. He effortlessly parried her attack and overbalanced her with a kick against her legs.

Linea stumbled past him and landed in the grass.

“It’s sad how deep the Royal Family has fallen,” he commented with a smirk. “You’re not even worth my respect. It’s time for a change.”

He struck at Linea, who rolled to the side. She tried to get up, but Turandir didn’t want to give her the chance. His sword came down on her and Linea had to muster all her strength to parry. The force of the blow was strong enough that her own sword smashed against her head.

Disoriented Linea fell back on the ground.

“No, Linea!” Tarina yelled and attacked Turandir with abandon to protect her sister.

Linea tried to stand up again using her sword as a crook, but the blade sank into the soft soil. She lost her balance and fell down again. The world around her started to turn black.

As she slowly lost her consciousness, she saw how Turandir burrowed his blade in Tarina’s chest. He pulled the sword back and Tarina fell on her knees.

“No…” Linea mumbled.

With her last strength she looked at Turandir, who laughed. With a last strike he severed Tarina’s head from her body. The last thing Linea saw was Tarina’s head landing between them.

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A headache was the first Linea noticed when she woke up again. She groaned and tried to open her eyes.

“-nea!” a voice reached her ears. She forced her eyes open. She lay on a hard surface, which her hands identified as wood.

“Wha…” Linea croaked.

“Linea!” the voice called for her again. It sounded familiar.

She raised her head slowly. Around her were metal bars and a lot of humans doing whatever.

“Where…” Linea tried to speak, but her headache overpowered her for a short moment.

“Linea, dear! Can you hear me?” the voice cried out for her again. Linea made the effort to identify the voice. To her right side was a cage in which someone stood looking at her.

“Mother?” she asked and squinted her eyes.

“Oh, by Luna’s name,” Arania said relieved. “I feared you were seriously wounded.”

“Where am I?” Linea asked still being disoriented. She tried to recall how she got here.

“The human’s encampment,” Arania explained. “What happened? Why are you here?”

“I- I don’t know… I…” Linea stammered and got into a sitting position. She rubbed her head. Slowly her memories came back. “Oh Luna! Tarina!”

“What? What is with Tarina?” Arania asked and her hands clenched the metal bars of her cage.

“He… he killed her…” Linea said, and tears flowed from her eyes.

“Oh no,” Arania said, and she started crying as well.

Linea suddenly noticed something weighing down on her shoulders. She couldn’t see it, but her hands felt a metal collar dangling around her neck.

“What is that?” she asked as her fingers examined the foreign object. She also noticed that her hands were cuffed. The mental image she created upon fumbling with the object on her neck, reminded her of something she had seen before.

“It’s a disgusting invention from the humans,” Arania explained. “They call it ‘slave collar’.”

“Slave…” Linea repeated and then it dawned on her. “No! No, no, no!”

She tried rip the collar from her neck, but suddenly a thought run through her head. She shouldn’t do it. It was a bad idea. She should let go of it.

Linea followed the thought and stopped her attempt. When she let go of the collar, the overwhelming power in her head disappeared as if it never been there.

“You can’t break it,” Arania said with a sad voice. “They can control your mind with it.”

“Those bastards!” Linea said and ran over the collar with her fingers once again.

“Tell me what happened. Why are you here?” Arania changed the subject.

Linea looked at her mother and realized that she had never seen her mother in such a way. She was disheveled, dirty and had sunken cheeks. Linea explained quickly how they had tried to defend Avandir and how Turandir had back stabbed them. She told her mother about Tarina’s death. She crawled over to the side of her own cage and she and her mother held each other’s hand.

“I’m so sorry, Mum…” Linea sobbed. “I couldn’t protect her.”

“Shh,” Arania said. “It’s all right. It’s not your fault.”

After a few minutes, Linea had calmed down a bit.

“Where is father?” Linea asked and looked around. To her left was another cage, which was empty.

“They executed him earlier,” Arania answered and tried not to show her emotions. “The humans started talks about an armistice and wanted to make a point or something.”

Linea started to cry again. In just a day she had lost two of her closest family members.

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The next day was sleepless for Linea. The humans walking past their cages pointed at them and made any kind of jokes. Linea just glared at them. In the evening Tanus appeared in before them.

“Look who we have here,” he said with a smirk. “A princess caught by… an ape, was it?”

Linea swallowed the curses, she wanted to throw at him.

“Huh? No snarky comments?” He tried to provoke her, but Linea knew this was neither the time nor the place. “Disappointing.”

He turned around as a carriage stopped behind him.

“Ah, our other guest has arrived,” he explained with a smile.

The door of the carriage was opened, and a person was thrown outside.

“Senia?” Linea and her mother both asked incredulously.

Senia looked rather beaten up. She had scratches and scrapes all over her face. But what shocked Linea even more was the person leaving the carriage behind Senia. He looked rather smug and kicked Senia against the back.

“Stupid girl…” he said. “Couldn’t stay still the whole way here.”

“Fenandir, you Luna-forsaken, treacherous bastard!” Linea yelled.

He winked at her. In her rage, she stood up and got to the front bars of her cage.

“Why? Why would you do this?” she asked, and tears gathered in her eyes.

“All for the money, dear princess,” Tanus answered. “Why should he stay a lowly knight, if he can become a marquis and get rich?”

Fenandir laughed. “He’s right. The emperor promised me a lot of stuff.”

“You’re disgusting!” Linea just said.

“Linea, stay calm,” Arania said from the other cage, but her face betrayed her rage.

“I nearly got you in Alandis,” Fenandir said, “but your strange magic saved you. Well, not that you can do anything about it now.”

He pointed at his hand wrists.

“Magic-suppressing?” Linea guessed.

“As amusing the family reunion may be,” Tanus interrupted them, “I have negotiations to lead. Prince Tovandir seems to be rather unhelpful with that. I think I need to be more… convincing.”

He gave a sign to the guards. They stuffed Senia into the cage left from Linea and grabbed Arania from the other.

“They weren’t persuaded by your husband’s head, but perhaps yours will do.”

“No!” Linea cried out and her eyes widened.

Arania tried to get free from the grasp of her captors, but to no avail. Tanus kicked her in the back of her right knee forcing her to kneel.

“I swear if you do this, I’ll hunt you and I’ll torture you to death!” Linea threatened him, but due to her situation Tanus and the guards just laughed.

“I don’t mind if you try,” he said and unsheathed his sword.

Arania looked into Linea’s eyes.

“Stay strong, Linny…” she said with a smile. “And I’m sorry.”

With a rather casual swing Tanus beheaded Linea’s mother in front of her eyes.

Linea couldn’t react to it. She only stood there, her knuckles white from clenching the metal bars separating her from her mother.

Tanus reached down and grabbed the head.

“Put that in a box and send it to their Prince,” he said and threw the head to a guard. “Get rid of the body like the others and put a slave collar on the new one.”

The guards did as they had been told and Tanus came closer to the cage.

“Don’t worry little princess,” he said with a sweet voice. “We won’t kill you. You’re such a valuable leverage.”

He stroked her cheek and Linea wanted to punch him, but again an overwhelming force stopped her from doing so.

“Your sister will be my slave. You’re too young for me,” he explained and gave her a quick examination. “But you'll make a good price on the market.”