Hidden among bushes and in the shade cast by the trees, Derek watched the small lumberjack village attentively. A little farther away, the structure of the garrison Zara had mentioned rose up. She had gone there, but she had left him here waiting.
This is part of the plan, he thought, though doubting the chances of something like this actually working.
"Listen, you'll need to cause some kind of distraction," he recalled the conversation he'd had with Zara several minutes earlier. "These are times of war, so the people will be on edge—especially with Tarzovians roaming the forest."
They had both been in the position where he now stood, watching the villagers walk through the place carrying logs from felled trees.
"You'll need to burn the rooftops, make it look like they're under attack," Zara had explained.
Derek had stared at her with a raised eyebrow.
"You use fire, don't you? Use it to burn the thatched roofs."
"Yes, I understood that part," he'd said. "But aren't they your subjects?"
Zara had pulled her dress and crown from Shadow's bag. They were all wrinkled, but it would serve.
"For all intents and purposes, the attack will be carried out by a Tarzovian, not the princess of Luneria." Zara moved her hands, signaling Derek to turn around, and he complied.
"Use your agility. Attack from multiple flanks. Make them doubt your numbers." The princess finished putting on her crown. "You can turn around now," she'd announced.
Derek turned to see her in her dress. It was dirty and wrinkled, but still, Derek couldn't help but think Zara looked very good in it.
"What's the dress for?" he'd asked with doubt.
"I'll distract my brother. Hopefully..." she'd murmured that last part.
The princess had gripped her dress with her hands while biting her lip. Derek gently placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, making her turn around in surprise.
"I don't trust that your plan will go entirely well, but I want you to know that I thank you from the bottom of my heart," the boy admitted with a firm expression.
Zara let out a small smile, moving Derek's hand away in the process.
"It's incredible how much I missed this dress." With that said, the girl left their hiding spot and headed toward the village.
People pointed at her. Soon a group of soldiers arrived to escort her to the garrison, disappearing from Derek's sight.
Several minutes had already passed since that conversation. He supposed it was time to begin the plan.
With a snap, a small sphere of fire appeared in his palm. At that moment, he also felt blood running from his nose.
Damn it, he thought, my spirit is still weak. I don't think I can do much.
Still, with great precision, he launched the sphere at full speed toward the roof of one of the houses. There was no explosion—instead, the hay began to burn slowly until it burned enough for everyone to see.
Derek ran, still not abandoning the cover of the forest, and launched another sphere at another house. The people had already gathered around the first fire to put it out when they saw the second appear.
By the third sphere, many managed to see the projectile. This time, Derek made it larger on purpose. Upon impact, it did cause an explosion, sending burning hay everywhere—and that was when panic broke out.
The soldiers didn't take long to appear on the scene. The villagers, for their part, took their valuables and fled their homes, moving away from the flames.
Forcing himself, Derek launched several more attacks, letting the soldiers see them on purpose. Then, taking advantage of his speed, he took off running, circling the village through the forest.
This doesn't feel right, burning houses. Forgive me, Ignus, he thought, sweat running down his face.
The soldiers ran into the forest in large numbers, searching for "the attackers," while fewer stayed behind to put out the fires on the houses.
Good, it seems to have worked. He thought with a smile. Wait for me, sister. I'll rescue you soon. He ignored the nasal bleeding and kept running through the forest, now approaching the garrison.
Olivia left Shadow's cell, following the soldier who had informed her that her sister was here. She had mixed feelings about the news. She was her sister—she loved her. But after what Callen had told her, could she treat her the same way she had before?
"When did my sister arrive?" she asked, quickening her pace.
"Several minutes ago, Your Highness. She was speaking with your brother," the soldier replied.
They rounded a corner toward the study where her brother was, but upon looking closely, she realized Callen was standing outside, leaning against the wall.
Olivia reached his side. Just by looking at him, she could see the lost look in his eyes—something had definitely happened.
"Is she in there?"
He nodded in response.
Olivia was about to enter, but Callen stopped her. Concentrating, she could hear her sister's faint sobs.
Is she crying? She thought, directing her gaze to her brother, judging him as she freed herself from his grip.
"Everything I was thinking," he said with a sigh, lowering his gaze to the floor. "Quite bluntly, I should add."
Olivia tried to open the door again but was stopped once more.
"Let me in to see her. I need to talk to her. We need to talk to her!"
"No. Not now." A tear fell down his face, but he quickly wiped it with his wrist. "Give her a few minutes. Let her calm down."
Olivia watched him with somewhat agitated breathing. Once she freed herself from his grip, she said, "You and I will talk about this later." Callen nodded but did nothing more.
Olivia didn't know what Callen had said to Zara, but she knew it was something bad. Damn it, she knew him well—right now he must be regretting everything he said, but he didn't dare enter for fear of Zara's rejection.
The princess sighed.
"You blame yourself for what you said."
The prince nodded.
"And why aren't you going to apologize?"
"I don't think I should. I was... too harsh." The prince looked at the hand with which he'd struck the desk. It had small cuts from the wooden splinters.
"Are you stupid?" Olivia was about to continue speaking, but an explosion stopped her.
The sound came from the village. They looked at each other and ran to see what was happening.
Upon leaving the garrison's walls, they could see several rooftops burning, with other explosions happening at that moment.
The villagers' screams became audible, and soldiers ran to the village, raising their weapons. Callen stopped one who passed by him.
"Soldier! What's happening?"
"We're under attack, Your Highness! They're attacking the village with fireballs!"
"How many?"
"We don't know, but it seems like several."
This smells wrong. It's not that rare to find spiritualists with fire abilities since it's quite common to awaken, but still, several?
"Come on, brother! The soldiers will need our support!"
Callen shook his head.
"You stay here. I don't believe this is a random attack," Callen ordered.
It seems Callen shares my suspicions. Good, I'll stay then, she thought as she nodded.
Callen ran out after the soldiers. Now the only one remaining in the garrison was Olivia. She thought about leaving Zara alone, but she still had something to do with Shadow.
The distraction had worked perfectly—or so Derek thought. He had approached the garrison without being seen, thanks to all the soldiers running to the village to help.
He watched from his hiding spot as both, the prince and the princess, also left the place. There wouldn't be a better opportunity to enter.
He ran along the wall, successfully infiltrating the place. There he discovered that he didn't actually know which cell Shadow was in.
He cursed under his breath before running off again. Exploring he encountered the keys to the cells. He opened several cells, freeing the few prisoners the soldiers had taken.
They ran to the various exits of the place, thanking him for saving their lives. In response, Derek asked them about his sister's whereabouts.
None of the inmates seemed to know where she had been taken. They only said she had been separated from the group, so she should be in a cell elsewhere. Disappointed, he continued his search, knowing time was running out—the distraction wouldn't last forever.
Then he saw a familiar figure from afar. Olivia walked down one of the hallways, her weapon in hand. Derek could see that in the hallway she came from, there was a pool of blood.
It seems she ran into some of the ones I freed. This is bad, he thought, but at the same time, it didn't seem like she was looking for them—rather, she was heading to a specific place.
As she passed by, he saw the inert bodies of some of the soldiers. He looked away. He had freed them with good intentions, but in the end, he'd only sent them to their deaths. Still, his priority was Shadow.
Derek followed her, silent as always. After a while, Olivia entered one of the cells, and Derek got close enough to hear the conversation.
"It seems they've come to rescue your people, woman," Olivia said coldly, but Derek couldn't see who she was addressing.
"Oh, really? A bit bold if you ask me, attacking this place." But he couldn't fail to recognize that voice—it was clearly his sister.
"Truthfully, it is." Olivia raised her weapon and aimed directly at Shadow's head. The faint blue light surrounded the weapon's runes as they began to spin around it. "The secret about the seal will go with you to the grave."
"No!" Derek entered the room, tackling Olivia and throwing her to the ground. The weapon fired, but the shot hit the wall. The source of this chapter is g.com.
"Derek!?" Shadow couldn't help but be surprised. She tried to stand but was stopped by the chains.
"Stay still. I came to rescue you." He quickly grabbed the weapon from the still-stunned Olivia and fired at the chains, destroying them and freeing Shadow.
Derek stared wide-eyed at the destroyed chains, then fixed his gaze on Olivia's weapon.
"I told you to leave. What are you doing here?"
"They were going to shoot you with this?" Derek murmured, ignoring Shadow's comment.
"What are you doing here, idiot!?"
Derek snapped out of his trance at his sister's shout.
"Zara helped me plan this. She wanted to return the favor for something you did in the city."
In Shadow's mind, the memories of the encounter with the three thugs returned, and she couldn't help but smile.
Though they both went on guard as they saw Olivia carefully stand up, leaning against the wall and bringing a hand to her head. To their surprise, she raised her other arm in surrender.
"Smart move, princess. Guide us to my things and then to Zara," Shadow said while her brother aimed Olivia's own weapon at her.
"I won't hand over my sister," Olivia said with difficulty, still not fully recovered. "Do you think taking her will change anything? Sooner or later we'll rescue her. You won't escape forever."
Derek watched the conversation between the two, raising an eyebrow, as if something was escaping him.
"Sister, we need to be quick. Let's find your things, then we can look for Zara," the mage added to the conversation.
Shadow hadn't noticed, but Derek seemed to have a slightly bloodied nasal area. This worried her, but this was no time for that—first, they needed to get out.
"Let's go." They both ran, leaving Olivia alone in the cell, recovering.
Running through the hallways, they eventually reached an armory. In a chest, Shadow's things were stored. The woman quickly grabbed everything and put it on. But upon leaving the room, they came face to face with their biggest obstacle.
"I knew something was wrong," said Callen, armed with his two scimitars, standing at what seemed to be the only exit from that place. "What did you do with Olivia?"
"We disarmed her. She's in the cell," Derek replied, raising the princess's weapon and aiming at Callen.
In response, the prince enveloped his weapons in the same red aura he had used before against Shadow. To the prince's surprise, the woman stepped forward, raising her weapon.
"I didn't think you'd have the guts to face me again."
"What can I say? I'm quite bold," she joked, trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation.
Callen prepared to launch a horizontal cut, and Shadow lunged at him without thinking. She wasn't fast enough to reach him in time—Callen released his attack.
Shadow forced herself to dive to the side, but the attack ended up hitting her arm, making what looked like a rather deep cut. In addition, the attack continued on its way, destroying part of the wall of the place.
The woman screamed in pain, bringing her other hand to the wound. Blood poured out in large quantities and quickly ran down her entire arm to her hand, beginning to drip onto the floor.
"Sister!" Derek dropped Olivia's weapon, rushing quickly to help his sister. He tore off part of his clothes to use as an improvised bandage.
"You know I won't miss the next attack," the prince threatened, intensifying the glow of his weapons.
Shadow clenched her teeth, trying to ignore the pain of the wound as much as possible. Though the tourniquet was doing its job for now, the pain prevented her from moving it too much.
Olivia appeared from the end of the hallway, though she didn't come closer to avoid ending up in the crossfire.
Shadow glanced sideways at the wall. The attack was powerful—the hole in the wall was large enough for a person to pass through.
"There won't be a need to dodge it." Footsteps became present in the hallway. "You won't launch it."
Callen turned to see Zara run past him. It was as if time had stopped. He could see that she was still crying a little, but at the same time, she looked much more determined.
She was within his reach. One single movement would stop her, and all of this would end. But that movement never came—he simply couldn't do it. Upon seeing the determination on his sister's face, doubt flooded his body.
Shadow took advantage of the confusion to escape through the hole, pulling her brother along with her still-healthy arm. Zara followed them quickly.
Olivia ran down the hallway, recovered her weapon, and followed them through the hole.
"Callen, snap out of it!" Her sister's shout snapped him out of his trance, and they both went out through the hole in the wall.
They came out just in time to see the three climb onto a horse. Olivia aimed at them—she had them in her sights, but she didn't fire either. Her pulse trembled. She could stop them, but she feared the shot might hit Zara. If she harmed her, she would never forgive herself. In the end, the siblings just stood there, watching Zara ride away once more.
Callen watched them disappear, biting his lip hard. He sheathed his weapons in his belt and re-entered through the hole he had made.
Olivia sighed, shouted a curse at the air, and threw her weapon forcefully to the ground, then fell to her knees. After everything she had told her father the day before, she had failed again.