The journey to Flos was long. Caspian, Elincia, and their companions traveled south-east from Silvaguarde in the north-west, but the route itself was convoluted.
North of Arcadia lay the nation of Helheim, but it also went by another name: the Northern Wastes. As an unforgiving and frigid land, Helheim possessed mostly barren soil, rocky mountains, and snowy peaks.
The area of Arcadia immediately south of Helheim was known as the Atlantia Province, and it shared many characteristics with Helheim. The frigid land was arid and barren. It contained little in the ways of fertile soil and consisted mostly of mountains and barren wastelands. To reach Flos, they needed to travel east through the wasteland, and then cut south after bypassing the most mountainous of regions.
Of course, if we were in a small group, we could have cut straight through the mountains, Caspian thought with a sigh as he rode on his steed with Elincia. His sorceress and life partner was nestled snugly against him, using him as a shield from the biting cold winds, but she lifted her head when his thoughts reached her.
"But if we were in a small group, we wouldn't have the strength necessary to help anyone."
"I know. I just want to complain."
"You've been doing that an awful lot lately."
Caspian didn't think he could be blamed for complaining, though he also knew it didn't help any.
The fact of the matter was that an army of 15,000 simply couldn't move very fast. They could only travel as fast as their slowest soldier, and since around 90% of their soldiers were traveling on foot, that was pretty damn slow. It didn't help that the freezing climate and rugged terrain made traveling on foot difficult.
It had been two weeks since they'd begun traveling, but they still hadn't reached the easternmost border of the Atlantia Province.
"At least all this traveling gives us time to talk," Elincia said through their bond. She tucked her head back underneath his chin as though no longer interested in dealing with the cold. Caspian sighed as he leaned his head down, placing his chin on the crown of hers.
"I suppose, but it also means we have no chance to be alone," he replied.
Because the army didn't have that many tents, Caspian and Elincia were forced to share a tent with Maddison and Valen. Of course, this also meant they were limited in what they could do together. Caspian would admit that he was getting a little antsy for some intimacy. It bothered him that he and Elincia couldn't express their love for each other physically, especially since Maddison made it a point to tease them every time they did anything.
The sun crossed the sky as they continued moving. Caspian and Elincia spent most of that time bantering back and forth. However, as the sun finally began to set, Valen raised his hand and halted their procession.
"It's getting late," he said, turning his horse around and looking at their forces. "We shall set up camp here!"
The people in front who heard the order informed the people in back, and like a chain reaction, everyone soon had the orders to set up camp.
By this point, their forces were pretty proficient at setting up camp. The camping supplies were all unloaded. Everyone had their own assigned tasks. Some were tasked with setting up the tents, others had the job of starting fires, and some were asked to cook. Most of the food was smoked and salted meat, of course, since that was the easiest food to carry. However, if being part of such a large army had its benefits, it was that no one was willing to deal with military rations. Even the smoked and salted meat was used in stews and other dishes that complimented the saltiness of the preserved food.
Caspian and Elincia did what they could to help out, or at least they tried.
"Don't worry about this, Lady Elincia!"
"We can take care of the cooking, Princess Elincia."
"You don't have to put up with this kind of work!"
"Just relax!"
It was like this every time they tried to help out. Caspian and Elincia would go up to a group, ask if there was anything they could do to help, and be kindly told to just leave everything to them. None of these people seemed to understand that they wanted to help. It wasn't like they were doing this because they thought they needed to. With 15,000 people, it was obvious their help was not required.
Elincia sighed as she sat on Caspian's lap, underneath a thick quilted blanket, in front of a blazing fire. She had a cup of hot cocoa in her hands, which she periodically sipped on. Caspian had a mug of steaming cocoa in one of his hands as well. The two of them were sitting around a fire with Valen and Maddison.
"You look disappointed," Maddison said with a grin. "Upset that no one would let you help out?"
"I just don't understand why they keep telling me not to worry," Elincia mumbled.
"That is because you are their princess," Valen stated. "How can the princess of the elven nation, Fas Sheras, do something as demeaning as cooking or setting up a tent?"
"But it's not just the elves who are treating me this way," Elincia complained. "Even the humans are doing this."
"The benefits of being popular?" Maddison shrugged.
"Being popular is awful," Elincia whined with slumped shoulders and ears.
"So long as they don't profess their love for you, I don't care how popular you are," Caspian declared.
"Caspian!"
The four of them continued bickering as they ate, but when the sun had finally set, they traveled into their tent and climbed into their sleeping bags. As the leaders of the joint human/elf forces, they were not required to take watch during the night. While Maddison and Valen slept alone, Elincia and Caspian shared a sleeping bag. This had earned them a lot of teasing from Maddison. However, no matter how much she poked fun of them for being lovebirds, neither was willing to give up the comfort they found in each other's arms.
It didn't feel like he had gone to sleep for long before Caspian was woken up by a scream. He jerked up in bed, startling Elincia into waking as well. As she sat up and rubbed her eyes, Caspian cocked his head and listened.
The sound of explosions were echoing from right outside their tent.
"Get up!" Caspian shouted as he scrambled to his feet, put on his boots, and grabbed his sheathed sword. He didn't bother putting on his armor. However, he was at least dressed in the rest of his clothes since it was too tired to sleep without them on.
Elincia followed suit, leaping out of the sleeping bag and getting dressed. Fortunately, she only had to put her boots on, grab her bow and quiver of arrows.
Maddison and Valen were also awakened by the noise and already prepared for combat. In fact, they were so ready that if Caspian didn't know any better, he would have said they'd never gone to sleep in the first place.
"Sounds like a battle is happening," Maddison remarked.
"Don't make obvious statements!" Caspian spat. "Let's get outside and see what's happening!"
No one disagreed with him and the group quickly traveled outside. What they found was the human/elf forces under their command engaged in combat with a group of Knights. Most of them appeared to be flying units. They buzzed around in the sky and fired bullets at the humans and elves, many of whom received wounds from grazes and a few hits. Caspian watched as one of the elves to his left was shot in the shoulder and went down.
While there were a lot of Knights flying through the air, that didn't mean there were none on the ground. Several were in the midst of their forces, hacking and slashing their way through human and elf alike. Fortunately, both races were all well-trained in combat.
A pair of humans were working side by side to keep the stronger Knight while an elf skewered it from behind with a spell similar to Caspian's Halkaista. Another pair of elves were working together, casting nature manipulation to bind the automaton and alchemy to deconstruct the metal used in its construction.
The battlefield was complete chaos. Spells flew through the air. Sparks flashed. Screams of pain and intense battlecries echoed all around them.
"Valen, Maddison! Protect Ele from the ground!" Caspian ordered.
"What gives you the right to order me around?!" snapped Maddison, but Caspian wasn't listening anymore.
"Springen!"
Caspian's jump took him to one of the Knights, which was unable to react in time to defend itself.
"Halkaista!"
Sinking his blade deep into the automaton's chest, Caspian destroyed the matrix that kept it functioning.
"Springen!"
He then used the Knight as a springboard and launched himself at the next one, impaling it on his blade before throwing himself at the next Knight, and then the next and the next one. Over and over he took out Knights from the sky, playing leapfrog with the machines as he destroyed one after the other.
While he took care of the Knights in the sky, Maddison and Valen protected Elincia from the Knights on the ground.
"Zeus, ruler of the skies, master of lightning. Blessed are we who serve under your banner. Show these fools your power. Teach them what it means to fight against one who controls the lightning!"
Maddison's body soon picked up a vibrant blue glow as arcs of lightning crackled from her. All that lightning soon gathered in her hand, and with but a single wave, she sent a powerful arc of blue lightning in a semi-circle that washed over the battlefield. Oddly enough, the attack didn't cause any damage to their own forces, but all of the machines that were hit suddenly ceased functioning.
On Elincia's other side was Valen, who used a combination of his prowess with a sword and Spellcasting to decimate his opponents.
"Viilto."
He swung his blade with an incredible speed and elegance that made it seem as if several swords were appearing at once. In the next instant, three Knights were cut into pieces.
"Puolikuu."
Spinning around, Valen swung his sword in a horizontal arc. A wave of light emitted from the blade. It caused the air in front of him to ripple. Several Knights were rushing toward him when they were hit by this wave, and then, as the wave passed them, the upper half of their bodies were separated from their lower halves.
While she was being protected, that did not mean Elincia was idling. She held the bow in her hand, removed arrow after arrow, opened gate after gate, and fired shot after shot.
"Thor, please bless my arrows with lightning!"
Keeping the gate open, Elincia removed an arrow from her quiver, and as she notched it and pulled it back, the arrow picked up a brilliant spark. Upon releasing the arrow, the spark would become a powerful surge of lightning. The arrow quickly sought out the Knights in the sky that Caspian missed with his acrobatic assault. Each arrow plowed through a Knight's body, curved around, and sought out several more before exploding. Her attacks took out anywhere from six to seven Knights in a single shot.
As the battle progressed and became more manageable, Caspian landed on the ground beside Elincia.
"I don't think these are the main force," he said.
"You think so too, huh?" asked Valen. "This does seem very weak for an attack force."
"Then where do you think the main force is?" asked Elincia.
"More than likely, they aren't planning to send out their main force until ours is good and exhausted," Valen said. "It's a common tactic, one the dark elves excelled at."
"We need to find whoever is in charge and take them out of the picture," Caspian added. "Think you can do that?"
"Give me a moment," Elincia said as she closed her eyes.
"Heimdall?"
"... Yes?"
As the deep voice penetrated his mind through his bond with Elincia, Caspian moved into a guard position, attacking anything that came close but not straying from her side.
"The person who is leading this attack on us, please tell me where they are."
"... The one who is attacking is located further to the south. She is being guarded by over one hundred dark elves and a human man. Shall I teleport you to her?"
"No... I still can't teleport too many people at once, and there's no way we can fight one hundred people on our own."
"You can if you summoned one of us."
"Oh. That's true."
"The person leading this assault is located immediately to our south!" Elincia shouted over the din of battle. "She's being protected by around one hundred dark elves!"
Valen grimaced as he heard those words. "Then I guess that means gather a group of at least around one hundred warriors and confront them."
"No..." Elincia shook her head. "Caspian and I can handle this."
"Just the two of you?" asked Maddison. "That seems awfully dangerous."
"Not just the two of us." Elincia smiled. "Do not forget what kind of summoning I can do."
Maddison must not have been thinking about how Elincia could literally summon spirits to this plain. However, with the
"Caspian," Elincia said out loud, holding her hand out to Caspian.
He already knew what she wanted, so he reached out and grabbed her hand. The instant he did, their surroundings changed entirely. They weren't standing in the middle of a battlefield alongside Maddison and Valen. There were no humans, no elves, and no Knights. However, there was a childish-looking human girl, a giant man with red hair, and upwards of one hundred dark elves.
The girl didn't look a day over 12. Caspian wasn't fooled. This girl with long blonde hair tied into pigtails, ice blue eyes, and pale skin was none other than one of Duke Callisto's cohorts. Not just his cohort either. According to all the information they had gained, this sorceress was his right hand woman.
Everyone appeared startled when an elf and a half-elf appeared in their midst. The many dark elves who had been standing around like they were waiting for something gawked at the two, but that surprise only last for a moment. Then weapons were being drawn and menacing expressions appeared on the faces of those people. Only one dark elf didn't draw their weapon. It was a cloaked individual standing beside Cleopatra.
"Lady Cleopatra," Elincia said in a clear voice filled with confusion and even pain. "Why? Why are you doing this?"
Caspian didn't expect this woman to answer, which was why he became surprised when Cleopatra raised her hand to make the dark elves back down. He could already see that none of them wanted to. Their burning red eyes glared at Cleopatra like she was scum. That actually made him frown. Was she not their leader? Either way, the dark elves still backed down after being ordered to.
"Are you asking me why I've sided with the dark elves, or why I'm attacking you?" asked Cleopatra.
"Both," Elincia said. "I just can't understand. You're a sorceress, aren't you? Isn't your job to protect the people? Why are you siding with the dark elves and allowing our people to be enslaved?"
"Why do you think someone has to protect others just because she's a sorceress?" asked Cleopatra, bringing Elincia up short. "Being a sorceress does not automatically make me a protector. I couldn't care less about the people. The only thing that matters to me is getting revenge."
"Getting revenge on who? Why?" Elincia asked.
Cleopatra snorted. "I guess you wouldn't know, would you? I'm obviously getting revenge on Sylvia de Floresca for destroying my village. We were just a small village located near the border of Arcadia. We had done nothing wrong, but that woman still saw fit to destroy it. Every man, woman, and child was wiped out. I'm not even sure how I survived."
Elincia frowned as she listened to the woman talk. Caspian could almost see her mind turning as she took this information in, and like him, she was probably incredibly confused.
"And you're sure it was Sylvia?" asked Elincia.
"Of course I'm sure," Cleopatra snapped. "She's the only woman with silver hair like that. Who else could it have been?"
"I'm finding it pretty hard to believe that Sylvia would destroy your village," Caspian admitted before Elincia could. "She's always been one of those 'work for the people' type of women. She might be cold and unable to really understand the emotions of others, but killing people isn't something she would do."
"Hmph! You've only been alive for a little over a decade, brat. Don't speak like you know anything about her. That woman pretends to be a great protector of the people, but she's truthfully cold and heartless," Cleopatra said.
While this conversation was going on, the dark elves glanced at the cloaked man as though asking him what they should do. Caspian narrowed his eyes when the man shook his head. He had a strange feeling there was more going on with this lady than even she herself knew.
"What is the name of your village?" Elincia suddenly asked. "If it was in Arcadia, then I'm sure there are records of it somewhere."
"What good would looking up information on a destroyed village do." Cleopatra crossed her arms. "However, since you asked, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't tell you. The name of my hometown is--" Cleopatra paused. "It's..." Her brow furrowed. "It's..."
Caspian shifted his feet against the ground as Cleopatra's expression ran through a gamut of emotions, rapidly cycling and shifting and scrunching, as though she couldn't figure out what kind of expression she should make. The woman eventually reached up and placed her hands on her head and gripped her hair.
"Why... why can't I remember?"
Cleopatra suddenly felt to her knees. Her eyes were wide, her body was shaking, and her mouth was grit in what appeared to be agony. The dark elves all frowned at her like they were wondering what her problem was, but Caspian, Elincia, and even Alexander were staring at her in shock.
Just then, Cleopatra released a loud, terrified scream as she collapsed to the ground. Neither Caspian nor Elincia knew what they should do in this situation. Did they attack? Did they see what was wrong with Cleopatra?
"Lady Cleo!"
While they didn't know what to do, Alexander was already kneeling beside his sorceress and trying to shake her awake. However, the woman trapped in the body of a girl was not in the best of shape. Her eyes were wide and sightless, foam was frothing at her mouth, and she was mumbling something even Caspian and Elincia couldn't hear.
With Cleopatra indisposed, the dark elf covered from head to toe in the cloak stepped forward. "Kill those two now!"
On his orders, the one hundred or so dark elves rushed toward Caspian and Elincia.
"Freya! Help me out please!"
The first dozen dark elves to reach Elincia and Caspian suddenly fell back, blood spurting from their bodies like broken sewage pipes. Everyone behind the first dozen suddenly stopped running and warily eyed the woman who had suddenly appeared before them.
Freya stood tall as she stared at the many dark elves arrayed against her. Eyes like deep oceans were set upon a stern but beautiful face, surrounded by strands of golden blonde hair that trailed down to her butt. Her bosom heaved within the confines of her metal chest plate, which didn't extend to cover her stomach, leaving her toned abdominal muscles bare. As she surveyed the situation, she twirled the spear in her hands, spread her feet across the ground, and pointed the tip of her weapon at the dark elves.
"Elincia, please leave these dark elves to me."
As Freya's soft and motherly voice floated to them, Elincia nodded, signifying that she understood.
With a smile, Freya turned back to the dark elves now eying her with frightened expressions. Then she disappeared.
The first series of screams began as several dark elves found themselves suddenly missing limbs. A few had their arms removed, but some also fell to the ground, holding the stumps that were their now missing legs. Caspian hadn't even seen Freya move. Before he could even blink, sixteen more dark elves were dead. Several were on the ground and bleeding from holes in their chest, but a few were also missing their heads. Barely a second had passed since she was summoned and the scene was already looking like a massacre.
Having fought by her side before, Caspian had been certain he understood how powerful Freya was, but now that he was watching her literally slaughter dark elves before they even had a chance to use magic, he realized that she'd never displayed her full power. Back on the boat when they fought, Freya had always held herself back to keep from destroying the boat. Now he was witnessing her full strength, and it was terrifying.
While a lot of dark elves had been slaughtered before anyone had time to blink, the remaining ones recovered quickly. They retreated and tried to use their shadow magic to impale Freya. However, that was like trying to stab water. The spikes made of shadows traveled straight through the woman's body, which revealed itself to be an after image several seconds later. Then nearly a dozen more dark elves lost their lives to the spirit's spear.
"What are you fools doing?!" screamed the cloaked dark elf. "Don't aim for the spirit! Kill the one who summoned her! If you kill the summoner, the spirit will disappear!"
Despite the man yelling, no one seemed to be paying him any attention. They were too busy screaming in terror and agony as Freya demolished nearly a dozen dark elves in less than a second. Soon, even the man who was screaming could no longer do so, as Freya had appeared before him and plunged her spear into his throat.
As the irony scent of blood filled with air, Elincia's lips trembled. Caspian reached out his hand and grabbed hers. She quickly tightened her grip as though afraid that he would let go if she didn't.
Freya, her task now finished, turned to them. There was a kind smile on her face that appeared completely at odds with the slaughter she just committed.
"I am sorry. I know you do not like killing."
"It... it's fine," Elincia whispered. "I know there was no choice."
Giving her one last kind look, Freya disappeared into particles of light.
Amidst all this death, Caspian and Elincia were not the only ones left still alive. Cleopatra and Alexander were several meters away. While Alexander looked utterly shocked by what had just happened, Cleopatra was sitting on the ground with a hand covering her face. Her expression, what could be seen of it between her hand, was calm but pained, like she had just suffered from an intense agony but also gained some kind of enlightenment from it.
Caspian and Elincia walked up to the pair, though they stopped about one meter away. Cleopatra looked at them and sighed.
"I remember what happened," she said at last. They said nothing. "I used to live in a small village called Flots. We didn't have much of anything in the way of comfort, but I was very happy there." Cleopatra bit her lip. "One day, a woman with white hair, blue skin, and red eyes came to our village and attacked us. We couldn't do anything. She slaughtered us down to the last man, woman, and child. I survived only because I became a sorceress. However, I passed out from the shock of seeing my entire family die."
As the woman told them about what happened, Caspian sensed movement somewhere to his left. He looked around but couldn't find anything.
"I don't remember what happened immediately after that. All the memories in my head are jumbled together." Cleopatra gripped her face. "However, I do remember thinking that Sylvia had been the one who destroyed my village. I have very clear memories of that too, but I think they're fake memories... like someone planted them inside of me."
Caspian had never heard of false memories being planted into another person, but he supposed it wasn't possible, though how someone could do such a thing was beyond him. Perhaps someone who could summon a spirit could do it. He would have to consult with Elincia to know for sure.
"Then Sylvia really didn't destroy your home," Elincia said.
"She didn't." Cleopatra shook her head, teeth grit as tears of frustration ran down her face. "I'm sorry. All this time, I thought she was responsible for me losing my family. I did so many horrible things to get revenge. I even sold us out to the dark elves."
"It's fine. You made a mistake, but I'm sure you can fix it." When Cleopatra and Alexander looked up at her in shock, Elincia smiled and held out her hand. "Come with us. If you help us fight against the dark elves, I'm sure everything will be okay."
Cleopatra looked at the hand for several long, silent seconds before slowly reaching out to grasp it. However, just before she could, the hairs was Caspian's arm stood up and his ears twitched as something moved behind Cleopatra.
"Watch out!" he shouted, grabbing Elincia and jumping away.
Alexander also tried to protect his sorceress, but he was not as quick as Caspian. Two shadows suddenly speared through Alexander and Cleopatra. The redhead as peirced right through the chest, killing him instantly, while the spear traveling through Cleopatra had gone through her back and was sticking out of her stomach. She stared at the wound in horror, then looked up at Elincia before her body fell sideways and struck the dirt.
"L-Lady Cleopatra!"
"Don't Elincia!"
Elincia tried to rush over to Cleopatra, but Caspian grabbed her hand and stopped her.
"But Lady Cleopatra is--"
"The dark elf who used that magic is still here!"
Elincia's eyes widened, but then they became dark as she shouted, "Sol!"
A bright light flared into existence above their heads like a miniature sun, banishing the shadows and reveal a dark elf who'd been hiding within one of them. Now that he'd been seen, he tried to run away, but Caspian launched himself at the fleeing man.
"Halkaista!"
In a single stroke, Caspian severed the dark elf's head from his shoulders. As the body hit the ground, he turned to Elincia, who was already rushing over to Cleopatra and lifting the woman into her arms, heedless of the blood that was getting on her chest.
"Lady Cleopatra! Lady Cleopatra!" Elincia shouted at the woman whose eyes had become glazed over. Caspian came up behind Elincia and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Ele, stop it."
"Eir," Elincia suddenly said, "I can call Eir! She can heal Lady Cleopatra!"
"Ele!" Caspian suddenly shouted, causing the woman to look at him. He gave her a pained expression as his lips trembled. "There's nothing you can do. She's already dead."
"No..." Elincia turned back to look at Cleopatra, whose pale face had grown even paler. Her eyes had no light in them, her chest didn't rise and fall, and blood continued pouring from the open wound in her stomach. "No..."
Caspian sighed and placed a hand on Elincia's shoulder as the young elf began crying.
***
For as much bad things as Cleopatra did, I do feel pretty bad for her. She was just another victim who was used as a pawn. It doesn't erase what she did, but I also feel like what happened wasn't completely her fault either.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It was kind of intense. Please let me know what you think.
Also, I don't know how many of you read my American Kitsune series, but I recently put some American Kitsune Acrylic Keychains up for pre order on my storenvy. Anyone living in the US who pre orders them gets free shipping. Please feel free to check them out. https://americankitsune.storenvy.com/