A/n: thanks for all the comments :)
***
Hope pulled the reins back ever so slightly. Daisy slowed to a walk as she servayed the valley below. There were small circles of warm orange light flickering in and out between the trees covering the floor of the valley. From this ridge she could make out fifteen or so campfires, but there were surely more hidden away all throughout.
"Our scouts have counted at least three-hundred." The rider beside her said. "There's more camps around the walls, but we're sure this one is where they're controlling the whole siege."
"Thank you, Wade." Hope replied, her thoughts overclouding her eyes for a moment as she ran different scenarios. "Has Park arrived with the units from Uthlocke?"
"They made it to Bald Ridge at dusk, so they should arrive when we get back."
"Very good." The auburn haired girl mumbled to herself. With a gentle tug she stopped her horse and dismounted. Wade did the same behind her, tying his horse to a low hanging branch.
For the next thirty minutes she described the plan, using her hands to point out specific locations to visualize everything. Wade nodded every so often to show he was listening, though he had long since memorized everything Hope was saying. The princess just needed to run everything through one more time, with the terrain in view as she would see it instead of the map.
Wade's prediction was right, as Penelope was waiting in the designated 'war room' tent when the two returned. Her hair was slightly ruffled, and she was eating some bread and slicing an apple with a sharp knife.
"Don't you use that blade to kill people?" Hope chuckled as she removed her warm overcoat, laying it over a chair near the back of the tent.
"This is a new one, lost my other one at Bald Ridge."
"Tell me all about it." Hope laughed at what was to come, knowing Penelope would never lose a weapon accidentally.
The raven haired girl smirked as she told the tale about a small party of bold Malivore soldiers that had wandered too far East. They had been harassing workers from a nearby lumber mill. The Mikaelson troops had happened to pass by at the right time, vastly outnumbering the Malivore soldiers.
"We did what we do best." Penelope boasted.
"Improvise?" Hope joked as she leaned against the big wooden table in the middle of the room.
Penelope sent her a dirty look. "I'll have you know I'm very meticulous in my planning."
"Ah yes, you're schemes."
"Speaking of schemes," The raven haired girl started, setting aside the bread and remains of her apple. "What's yours?"
Hope leaned her palms against the table, nodding towards the center of the map which showed a large city surrounded by walls.
"Malivore's men are stationed around the walls here and here," She indicated to the spots with her pinky. "Clusters of soldiers are gathered at the three gates mainly, but there's been a flurry of activity reported at this camp."
Penelope followed where Hope's pinky was pointing to and nodded. It was near where they were, tucked away in a wooded valley.
"The terrain is steep along the ridges, but the pine trees dont give them much cover."
"It also means they can spot us."
"Right, which is where the Knights of Uthlocke come in."
"So, you want to use magic."
"Yes." Hope responded distractedly, her mind wandering to far away places set in a different time. She blinked twice to clear those thoughts away. "Under the guise of night you and your fellow knights will eliminate the watchmen. But most importantly, I want you to get to here."
Hope was motioning to the middle of the sketch of the Malivore camp. Penelope was quiet for a moment. She searched her friends face for any answers, but Hope would not meet her gaze.
"Who's in their camp Hope?" She pressed. A few seconds of silence stretched out in front of them before Hope answered.
"Clarke."
***
The cloudy, moonless night provided the perfect cover for the Knights of Uthlocke as they crept through the brush. Only moments before the Malivore sentry's death would they would realize they weren't shadows. They floated forward between the trees taking out soldiers in an instant, the only sounds indicating a struggling would be the soft choking sounds as they suffocated on terribly powerful magic.
The Knights of Uthlocke were a cult established decades prior in the port city of Uthlocke. Long before the magic had been banned, they were a respectable group of Knights that served the kingdom faithfully. Now they could only slink through the shadows of society, just as they were doing now in the valley.
Penelope formed into a tangible being right behind a guard, burying her dagger into his throat as she covered his mouth and pulled him behind the tent. He only struggled for a second before his soul left his body. Penelope mouthed a wordless prayer and evaporated into dark mist again.
Any second the signal would be sent up and the real fighting would begin. Once the command tent was discovered, Wade's troops would descend upon the valley and destroy all enemies within.
The raven haired girl materialized under a cart of straw, casting a locators spell using the scrap of painted cloth within her grasp. Her eyes turned white as her vision filled with colour that soon faded away. The bright blue soul of Lord Ryan Clarke was shining through the walls of a tent a few feet away from the girl. She watched him freeze, already sensing her presence after a few seconds.
In a puff of smoke she reappeared right outside of his tent and sent up a signal. A shot of green light filled the sky above the Malivorian's tent. Penelope had just enough time between the horns sounding around the camp and casting her signal to pull out her two short swords, which proved lucky when Clarke burst out of the tent thrusting his broadsword at her.
She flicked her wrists moving her swords in perfect mirror of each other. The clanging sound caused by the two echoed what was already happening around camp. Clarke's weapon had more reach than the raven haired girl's, but she had more control in manuverablility in tight spaces. She forced him closer to the walls in the tent with calculated movements, her mind moving faster and predicting each outcome of every step as it was happening. Whether it was due to her skill or Clarke's surprise she had her way. He was soon struggling to get his sword to meet hers as he was forced to press his back against the wall of the tent. Penelope increased the speed of her attacks, the swords in her grasp moving as if they were an extension of her body. In seconds Clarke's sword was flung far away from him and she had her swords at his neck.
"Surely you have not been sent by Klaus." He huffed. His steely eyes studying the young Knights face as his chest heaved. "A Mikaelson ordering the use of magic is heresy, even to strike down one of their enemies."
"Magic wont be what kills you." Hope growls a few feet away. Her sword and armor was coated with blood, and she had spatters of it on her face.
Penelope turns for just a second, and Clarke takes that window. He knees the girl in the chest sending her tumbling down. Her sword slices across his face and he stumbles. With a wince he touches his face, pulling back his fingers to see the dark substance that pools on his fingers.
"So it is you. The little wolf, heir to the throne of the Mikaelson dynasty." He says, an arrogant smirk forming on his face as he looks the princess up and down. "Look how much you've grown."
Penelope catches her breath and stands, looking between the two nobles as she tries to figure out what Hope is going to do. The heir is simply standing there silently with a look of veiled fury on her face.
"I never thought I would see this day, you know. Or at least not when your father was still alive."
"What do you mean?" Hope asked, a snarl on her lips as she humored the man.
"Magic, Hope." He gestured to Penelope with a wave of his hand. "I'm surprised you can stand the sight of her."
Penelope looked down to hide the shine in her eyes, wiping at them carefully before either noble could see.
"She's not the one who killed my mother."
"And I am? No no, that was your father."
"Shut up!" Hope yelled, her voice cracked on the words. Penelope did a double take when she thought for a moment that her friends eyes turned gold. It must have been a trick of the light.
"Magic would have saved her, I think about that every time I return to the mountains."
"If you utter another word I will kill you." Hope replied, her voice raspy with all the emotions she was trying to hold back.
"Isn't that why you're here?" He asked rhetorically. "No, not you. Someone else had to do it for you." He motioned to the girl between them. "This is one thing I cant understand. You send a barer of magic after me. Why? I thought you were a family of cowards."
Hope paused at this, momentarily confused as her anger slipped away. She didn't notice the blue ring shining brightly on the mans finger, her thoughts were disappearing before her and she couldn't think of new ones. They all got cut off right as they were started.
Penelope lunged forward at the man shouting an incantation. He casted a shield spell and sent the raven haired knight's spell back at her. She flew through the air and crashed into a nearby tent.
Hope screamed as all her thoughts came back at once, charging forward to attack the man that had almost incapacited her mind. She was blinded by rage and sadness, swinging madly at the smoke left in the mans wake. It invaded her lungs and she coughed violently, trying to hack up all the smoke. She fell to her knees in the spot where Clarke had been moments before, gasping for breath and cursing the name of Malivore.
When Wade and his men finally found them and brought the two back to camp, a squire was waiting by Hope's tent, a letter clutched tightly in his hands that he passed to Sir Wade.
"A letter for her highness."
***
A/n: yall can thank my new clunky keyboard for these updates. the sound it makes gives me so much serotonin.