I awoke to darkness and a splitting headache.

The mana collector explosion had collapsed the tower top, and the stones had bounced off my armored limbs and body. I was bruised all over, but nothing felt broken, and nothing trapped under crushing weight. The stones bouncing off me had formed an alcove around me. There was space to move my arms a little and feel my surroundings. There were no holes big enough to fit through, but enough to likely let in some air.

Near me was silence, with sounds from far away. I called out for help and got no answer but the echo of my own voice. I sensed for the heart of my sword, Swelfalster, and sensed it nearby, but well beyond the rocks immediately blocking my escape.

I thought. I could push my way out, but who knew what misjudged push would collapse the stones above me and bring my death? They were likely not that thick, given how close I had been to the tower top when the mana collectors exploded, but even one enormous stone to the head could kill, one stone to the limbs could maim.

It was not yet time for rash action, not yet time to shout myself hoarse or try to push my way out. I calmed my breathing and begin tapping on a resonant part of my armor an old military code. Ting ting ting TING... TING... TING... ting ting ting. If any noticed it, they would not assume it a shout of battle or jubilation at victory. Aid would come.

How many hours I laid there, gently tapping, I do not know. I thought about the governor's final words to me, the promise of the Dark Emperor's retribution. We had been winning here due to my brother's Velwin's luck and courage, wrecking the Black Citadel via overloading the mana core. It had contained vastly more energy than the mana collectors that had dropped these stones upon my body, relying as they did on filtering mana out of the high winds, and they had not built another. We had also been winning due to our tactics: our shield-heavy charges simply countered their over-reliance upon crossbows. Even so, we could have easily lost in our first charge given more adroit control of their windmakers, if our own arrows had been blown directly onto our heads and slain more of our forces. Could we withstand an invasion by a much larger force, wiser to our tactics? I did not know.

I took the time to pray. I asked for God's help on this battle, and in the war to come, or, if He willed it, to let us end the war here, and not face the Black Legion again. I asked for help in my rescue, and aid and comfort for all our soldiers. And I asked... about Aloree.

I thought about Aloree more than I should have. I had done my best to obey my father's instructions, and forget her while she mourned my brother Velwin, but it was easier done in deed than in my heart. Velwin had died here, winning a great victory for us, but he had managed to win Aloree first, even to marry her. Would I likewise die here, before even winning a kiss from her? Here I was, buried under rubble, spending perhaps my last moments being jealous of my brother. I blushed in shame, prayed more, and kept tapping.

Rescue eventually came. Men approached towards my tapping and called out to me, and I called in response. Strong arms began lifting and moving aside the stones, and soon, those above my head cleared, and I climbed out atop the piles of rubble. I helped continue to clear the stones, overriding their insistence that I rest and recover, and eventually retrieved my sword, though we found no other survivors among the rubble.

The soldiers caught me up on the results of the battle. The fight had gone out of the enemy as they witnessed the top of the central tower exploding and their governor flying away in his escape glider. Perhaps my crossbow bolt had hit his glider, for he had gone out of control and crashed somewhere in the forest. He was presumed dead, but his body had not been found.

The Black Legion had largely fled or died. Our cavaliers rode down their fleeing members, and few on foot survived. It later emerged that our riders had chased their retreating horsemen well past the Dragonclaw Mountains, and their survivors had fled in ships from a place called Mermaid's Point.

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A small portion of the enemy had surrendered, largely locals that had been pressed into service. My men had had their hands full, clearing the tower, guarding prisoners in the rooms, and exploring the corridors beneath the citadel, so it was no surprise my rescue had come so late.

Some of our soldiers went to garrison the territories we had captured, but most marched home to Talore or Tarmel. Among those joining me on my march home were the artificers, a couple of whom I'd saved myself. The magitech of the tower had been melted to slag, turned unusable and worthless for study by the mana flash released when the mana collectors of the tower exploded. The governor had done his work wisely, preventing the capture of their magitech as he attempted to finish me off, but the artificers would help us re-make some of it--arrow-flamers, windmakers, and currentmakers among other things. We had not gained the secret of their mana core, but given the things we'd found underneath the Citadel--rooms with floors covered with blood, rooms full of bodies stacked like cordwood, most of them young maidens... I thought the secret likely one better never learned.

Also joining us on our march home to Tarmel were Lordan, Jom, and Pol. While an ambassador protected only by the guards of her host country was acceptable in the short term, in the long run, King Lore of Talore required an honor guard for Aloree beholden to him, not to us. Aloree's trusted men from the wagon train had been tapped for this. I could no longer hide from them that I was not my brother Velwin, for shortly after we began our march, Jom asked me how the marriage with their princess was going.

"Actually, we're not married. She married my brother Velwin, who died blowing up the Black Citadel shortly after you last saw him."

Perhaps something of my bitterness about this came through my voice, because he slapped me on the back and said, "Buck up! That means she's single, right? And there's nothing to cheer a widow up like a returning war hero."

To this I gave him an embarrassed smile. I had indeed bucked up a little at his words.

Back in the capital, I continued my military training during the day. Our various prisoners had just about confirmed the governor's threats--one rumor that abounded was that the Emperor had a slave whisper in his ear, every night at dinnertime, "Emperor, remember Talore and Tarmel." This had started shortly after Velwin had blown up the Black Citadel.

I trained in sword and shield, spear and shield. I drilled my men. I practiced archery. I practiced riding. I wargamed with other officers, seeking to understand battle, seeking to be a good leader. I studied logistics, and the math and accounting of keeping troops supplied.

I also trained on the water. The Black Legion could attack by land, sea, or both, and we would be prepared. Talore and Tarmel both set their industry to fleetbuilding, turning out ships as fast as they could. Those regions around the ruins of the Black Citadel that had not joined our kingdoms directly swore to aid us in what was called the League of the Citadel, all contributing to building ships, equipping ships, and providing men to crew them.

We now had currentmakers, and equipped our ships with them in addition to oars and sails. Their mana consumption was very large, and shipborne mana collectors absorbing mana from the ocean currents could not keep them powered. But after some sailing, we would have enough energy for sudden bursts of speed with water shooting out the rear of our ships. Combined with a vicious underwater iron beak, we had a weapon capable of destroying enemy ships in close combat. We tested these on derelicts, to strong effect.

I wargamed naval battles in addition to land battles. I sailed on ships and familiarized myself with their command. I studied navigation. I did my best to become a complete warrior prince, for that was what my kingdom needed now. How much time we had before the Dark Emperor showed up at the head of an unstoppable military we did not know, but we knew we raced against the clock to be prepared.

Those were my days. In my nights out, beyond the obligatory royal functions, I drank with Jom and Pol. Something about them not being my father's subjects made them good companions, whom I could treat as equals without awkwardness. Perhaps it's because Velwin had actually been their equal, or even their junior, way back on the wagon train. They told me it was not yet time to make a play for Aloree, but they'd tell me the moment they thought she was open to it. For themselves, they made out like bandits. I never felt a spark with the groups of maidens who would throw themselves at a bunch of lads that included the Crown Prince, but Jom and Pol were happy enough to entertain them.

Finally, a year and a day after my brother Velwin's death, Aloree stopped wearing widow's black. I asked her out on a horseride that very day, and she said yes.