Lea's Liberation

Secrets of the Past

Secrets of the Past

Lea stood back with Nina and Sybille, watching as Felicie was put through a simple physical exam by Master Hue, the royal physician in charge of seeing to their health. Depending on how she performed here today, she would either be cleared for duty or bound to more bed rest. It was hard to tell who was more anxious about the outcome – Felicie or Lea.

The outcome of this physical would determine what happened to them.

A few weeks ago, while fighting with the healer paladin, Elaine, against Gascony on the border between Vasconia and Lloegyr, Felicie had been injured. Shot through the belly while up high – probably shooting at people herself – followed by a long fall that resulted in a broken arm. Since the healer paladin had been undercover and with no ability to contact her, Felicie's second-in-command, Andrea, chose to send her back to the capital for surgery and healing. They still hadn't had contact with Elaine, meaning Andrea made the right choice.

Felicie wasn't going to be returning to the front lines. Though she was recovered, she wasn't yet back to full fighting strength. That would take more time and the ability to exercise, which she couldn't do until Master Hue cleared her.

However, that didn't mean that she was useless.

At this moment, Princess Manon was leading the defense at Antonin Pass – an important and easily defensible border town in the middle of the barrier mountains between Vasconia and Gascony. After some effort, the Pass had been reclaimed. However, the paladin that had done it, Amorette, had gone to the border to replace Felicie after her injury and, with no one else to ask, Sybille had asked that the princess take over guarding the pass.

It had been some weeks since she had been there, and the king was no longer comfortable having her there when there were two paladins he could send to replace her.

Defending the Pass was easy enough. The city was neigh impregnable by itself. Princess Manon, who had little to no military training, was capable of doing it with only the advice of her head guard and former city guardswoman, Veva. Now, however, the king no longer had no choice in sending his only daughter and youngest child to defend it.

The physical would determine if it was Felicie or Lea who was sent.

Either paladin would be able to do the job. Felicie, who was still convalescing, and Lea, who had just returned from imprisonment, were both owed a break. But the war would not allow it and one of them would need to go out.

Both women had volunteered to be the one to go. Felicie had made the argument that she hadn't been fighting nearly as long as Lea and that Lea had more than earned a few weeks at home. Lea argued that she wasn't as badly injured as Felicie and didn't need to pass a physical in order to be deemed well enough to make the trip.

The king was eaten up with guilt that he had to deprive one of them of much needed rest. However, he believed that one of them needed to go. He had reached his limit in how much danger he was willing to let his daughter be in - even in the near impenetrable fortress of Antonin Pass. So, if Felicie passed her physical, she would be the one to go. If she did not, Lea would.

However, though she had volunteered for the duty, Lea didn't actually want to go.

Not because she felt like she needed more rest. Nor because she felt that Felicie didn't deserve more time to rest as well. But simply because, if she left, she wouldn't be able to see Emilien again. Not for some time.

Emilien wouldn't be allowed to follow her to Antonin Pass. Asking the enemy general to take up residence on what was, essentially, the front lines, was not only cruel to him but inadvisable from the perspective of the people who still didn't trust him. The king might believe in him completely, but not everyone did. People were already complaining about the role he had taken up as the queen's bodyguard, it would be that much worse if they saw him sent to the front lines.