SIXTH BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF FANTASILIA SERIES
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴.
Xanthiene Vivenca has to find allies and legendary objects of po...
"No," Xanthy shook her head and stood up. "I need to talk to Reeca...and the others."
Denara followed Xanthy, making the bed's legs creak as she shot up from it. "Come to dinner first, will you? Let's go together."
Xanthy's thoughts churned in dangerous circuits around her head when she nodded, mum.
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The chatter during dinner was muted. Xanthy caught enough eyes studying her as she and Denara strode into the open space by the inner quadrant. A vial was thrust into Xanthy's palms just as Denara gripped her wrist and led her to where Reeca, Elred, Geradine, and Airese were seated.
"Nice of you to join us, Xanthy," Reeca scooted to the left to leave room for Xanthy on the bench.
Xanthy sank to the seat and stared at the potion on her hands. Her stomach growled but she couldn't find the energy to down the potion. She didn't feel like doing anything, really. Her thoughts sputtered and lurched through only one line.
If she hadn't been there by the gate where June fell...he would've been dead by now. If she hadn't tackled Airese from the flying island, she would've lost a mother too. If she had only known what Marthiaq was planning, she would have stopped him. He would still be alive today.
This war...it took more than it gave. It's pointless. There's no merit or profit after all this. Apart from her friends and her parents' friends, how many more have been killed or injured beyond repair because of this war?
Too many.
Xanthy had been a fool in thinking that she could win this war when she didn't even know what she was dealing with. None of them were powerful enough to go against the Sovereign or the Heiress much less with two of them combined. This was a losing war from the beginning.
The only trump card they relied on was the Virtakios. Xanthy. What a failure.
"We need to drive to the offensive with the men tomorrow," Reeca was saying. The varichria's legs were crossed. She leaned forward on her elbow before taking a swig from her vial. "We should stick closer and let the marksmen deal with the east and west flanks. The Sovereign had been cautious of that side since Anahel."
Airese's face darkened at the mention of her dead friend. "Yes," the thyminka crossed her arms and turned to Reeca. "Anahel did save us back there. We need a new plan. We can't just go on like this."
"Espionage will surely fail," Elred tapped her chin and brushed her hair off her face. It's as if she hadn't heard her mother's name being referenced like a passing comment. "Sabotage won't work as well. Division could work provided we use enough soldiers but we don't even have that now."
Reeca opened her mouth to answer when Xanthy whispered. "Stop this."
The fairies around her whipped towards her. Xanthy raised her head to meet Reeca's eyes. "We should stop," Xanthy thumbed the cork that stopped the vial on her hands. "We won't win this war."
