Fight or Die

Tragity

- Moon

Days and days go by. Every moment I get closer to death. And yet every moment a chance of death leaves my future. And another one adds on.

It's terrifying. But I keep my head up. Not just for me but for everyone.

One a good note, no one has died yet. Obviously many of our soldiers have died, and their deaths sit on my heart, mostly because they are my fault in some ways.

But Deathbringer, Glory, Darkstalker, and Qibli are all safe.  It's been one month. Fighting. And fighting. And fighting.

There has been no sign of an end. But I think I have figured it out. So now I sit in a tent, infront of a map, beside Darkstalker, Deathbringer, and Qibli.

"Think about this. Why is the war still going??Apart from us." I say. "Because it's mandated. All families must contribute all children to the war." Qibli replies.

I nod." Exactly. But who makes those mandations?" I add. "Queen Snowfall. And Queen Scarlet." Deathbringer says.

I nod. "But what if there were no leaders to make everyone fight?" I say. "So we kill the Queens?" Darkstalker asks bluntly.

"Not necessarily. Maybe just try and convince them. Or in extreme cases, killing them might be what we need to do." I whisper.

"So we kill the Queens, then what? There will still be thousands of people who will want to kill eachother." Deathbringer challenges.

I close my eyes and look. Mostly awkwardness. Just the tribes feeling weird around eachother. As if they want to kill eachother, but they know the shouldn't.

Darkstalker gives a more descriptive version of that to them. "How are we going to kill the Queens?" Deathbringer asks.

"Animus magic." Qibli says softly. Darkstalker scoffs. "It doesn't work like that. I can't just snap my fingers and boom they're dead. Either I need to see them, or have an emotional connection. Like how I couldn't see Qibli, that day when Moon thought you had died in battle. I felt the emotional connection between you two. It was strong enough to almost travel through that line of connection, and reach to Qibli's side to save him." Darkstalker explains.

"None of you have a deep emotional level with either of those Queens." he adds. I nod. "What if we reach Winter?" I suggest.

"He knows Queen Snowfall." I say. Qibli stares at me oddly. "Winter is dead." Qibli says.

I shake my head. "No, he manipulated his way out of that. Then he kidnapped me and tried to spell me using Darkstalker. That is how we met." I explain.

"Yes, but he is dead now. He tried to get Anemone to make you come back. That didn't end well with her." Darkstalker interjects.

"We need to make a plan to get both Queens in the same place at once. That way Darkstalker can take care of them. And maybe Turtle if he's willing to help." Deathbringer concludes.

I look again. Next week. Both Queens plan to travel with their armies for a big fight going on between the Icewings and Skywings. The rebels aren't even going to be there. Well, now they will be.

I respect that the Queens are willing to fight with their soldiers. Scarlet and Snowfall are fighters. That's for sure.

"Next week they will both be at a battle. Heavily guarded obviously, but still there." I say quickly. The room falls silent.

After a moment Darkstalker clears his throat. "Alright. We get our army ready. And prepare to finally end this war." he says.

We agree and leave the tent. I walk over to Qibli. He is quiet. And I need to be honest with him about something.