Seeing Red

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter 16

            We would head to Sarathis first. There we would gather the most important part of our army. It took three days to get there, but it was worth it. We arrived at the gates at dawn. The same woman from before was there. She took one look at me and quickly opened the gates. I smiled at her and we silently flipped our hoods up and walked into Andastrads estate. People stared at us as we walked through his halls with our hoods up and my eerie glow. I stepped into the hall with the finesse of someone who felt like they owned the place, which caused people to do a double take. People were whispering ‘who are these people?’. I smiled and looked at the nearest man

          “Where is the Arl?”  I asked him. He looked like he was going to throw up

          “I can go get him if you’d like” he said. I smiled at him

           “That would be wonderful, thank you” I said flipping a silver piece into the air. He caught it and ran off to find the man in question. He returned several minutes later with Andastrad at his side

          “These are the travelers you spoke of?” he asked the man, who nodded vigorously. Andastrad smiled and said

          “You are dismissed man” then he turned to me  “what brings you to these parts stranger?” he asked. I smiled and pulled off my hood

           “Come now your grace, I am no stranger” I said. Shock flashed across his face and then

           “Layana! What a pleasant surprise!” he said, pulling me in for a hug. I laughed and pulled away from him. He stood back and looked at me

          “You have changed since I last saw you Your Majesty” he said. I smiled

          “It seems so doesn’t it? I would like to introduce you to my friends” I began “this is Levon Marasucubas, Veara; of the Faery realm, and Silvia; a Sister of Jae” I pointed to each of them in turn. The Arles eyes widened at their names, but his eyes found Silvia and stayed there. It seemed that he was mesmerised, and Silvia was under the same spell as he was. They each took a half step forward so that their faces were very close to each other. I saw Silvia’s eyes go from one of his to the other, and I noticed that his lips were turned up in a half smile. It was the most genuine look I have ever seen on him.

         “It is a pleasure to meet you” Silvia said quietly, still looking into his eyes.

         “The pleasure is mine” he replied. I knew this was going to lead to more flirty remarks so I hastily said

         “We can talk later. I need a handful of messengers, and you need to prepare your men for war” I said. The people in the hall gasped and Andastrad looked at me

          “Is it time already?” he asked me, his eyes closing for a second. I smiled at him

          “You know it is. Three weeks and we will be in the Valley of Arrows”

          “I see now my friend. You’ve been planning this” he said, smiling. I laughed

          “Never underestimate me, and you will never be surprised” I said giving Zevvran a sneaky glance. He chuckled under his breath and the Arl smiled

         “I will learn to do just that, I’m sure” I smiled and he added “how many messengers do you need?”

          I sent Veara to the faery folk as a messenger, but I had Maven soldiers go to where my allies were; the Elves, Dwarves, wolves, Sisters of Jae, Jutara, free cities, the black oaks and more. I had sent them all the same message that was to be said the same way; the soldiers would be in their demon forms, and they would all say ‘it is time, Layana Mavenblood calls your alliance. You have one week to arrive in Sarathis, where we will organise and start marching. I had them all memorise this, because it would be safer. They left the city, and we all began organising our troops. The mavens would fight by my side, with all of my closest friends, and the cities would be organised as they always were in wars; archers and soldiers. We would have a backup plan as well; if the battle was going bad for us we would send out a group of soldiers mid battle that would (hopefully) turn the fight around. Andastrad was ecstatic