The Masked General

Skulduggery

Once again, Avira had a sleepless night. She dragged herself to training. While most of the knights hadn't changed how they felt towards her after finding out who she was, a couple of them stopped listening to her.

"How can we trust her?"

"She's related to our enemy!" They cried out.

Claude calmed them down, they listened to him at least. This was annoying, she grumbled as she ordered them to be quiet. She could barely concentrate with still no word on Ivelle, and on top of that Hiroshi kept following her around. She looked at him, he looked at her, and she turned back around quickly, her face remained flushed. 

"To overcome the enemy, we need to use the art of deception," Avira began. She might have used the wrong word there.

"Just like you've been doing with us, Your Highness" One sneered at her.

"Silence!" Claude ordered, "Listen to what the general has to say."

"Thank you, Sir Claude," Ivelle gave a quick nod, "What I mean, is we want to confuse the other side. When we are near, we want to appear far, when we are strong, we want to appear weak. We want to catch them off guard."

Some knights grunted in agreement, while others continued to complain.

Avira ignored the glares, "We can use their confusion to our advantage. I know for a fact, that Wayollen has a larger army. A smaller group will always succumb to a larger one. However, we want to come out of this war with as few casualties as possible."

The grumbling stopped. She hated to admit that Harwen was smaller, they weren't weak, but Wayollen did have an advantage. If only she could fully protect both sides.

"General Malou!" Sawyer came running over waving his hands wildly.

Hiroshi walked up to Avira, "What's wrong Sawyer?"

"Oh Your Highness, they have found the duke and miss Malou's sister!" Sawyer said breathlessly.

"Sir Claude, I know that I should be giving the knights my full attention, but-" Avira searched for the right words.

"Go, I'll take care of things here," He waved his hand, shooing her away.

Avira smiled gratefully, and ran after Sawyer who was leading the way. Sylvia nudged Avira, and lowered herself to the ground. Avira paused, before climbing onto Sylvia's back. She picked up Sawyer, and sat him in front of her.

"Wow!" Sawyer gasped, "She's even bigger than I realized." Sylvia growled in response.

He was right, Avira had gotten used to Sylvia's presence, and never really thought about the large animal. She was just... there. Sylvia barked, and Avira looked up to see Ivelle's body being carried inside a small building, known as physician's residence.

She jumped off Sylivia, walked in, and was guided to a small room. Ivelle laid on a small bed on one side, and Andrew on a separate bed on the other side. She looked at her sister's pale and cold face.

"Is she alright?" Avira hesitated. Hiroshi came up behind her, and held his breath.

Eleanor stood up when she saw Avira, "We are not sure, Princess."

"They are alive, just passed out. I wouldn't say they are alright though," the doctor walked up, and crossed his arms, "From what I've gathered, their carriage was crushed in the mudslide after tumbling off a cliff. Luckily, it wasn't too steep. Duke Andrew shielded Princess Ivelle for the most part, but her legs were crushed under the weight of mud and the carriage. I'm not sure she will be able to walk."