The Places We Go

Chapter VII; Arlie

     The long awaited day finally came. It was finally time to train the villagers for combat. It was up to Arlie to teach swordsmanship. Though she was more skilled with a dagger, the Blahide family had been known to be skilled in all types  of blades, even longswords. This training was to take place in the plaza, where she, Anastasia and Beau had removed all of the chairs the night before. Arlie taught them basic techniques then said that they would have a bracket-style tournament to determine military ranks, since that was fastest. The tournament began, and the rounds went quickly due to the positioning of the soldiers. Once you pinned down your opponent, you moved forward and fought the next. All the losers started their own brackets so by the end of the day they had a clear ranking system. At the top of this ranking was none other than the hospital receptionist Charlotte, who was made General.
     She joined Anastasia, Arlie and Beau in the meetings to check on the progress of the training. Arlie had finished her part, rushed may it be, so she and Charlotte just sat in to hear about the other's progress. Beau had hardly made any, and as soon as Anastasia was sure the villagers had mastered the art of stealth she took over the archery program and soon the training was complete. All that was left to do was to go and take back Soleil, and, if they were lucky, take all of Mirirejar as well.
    They had come to the bridge where The army was instructed to just aim their weapons, but Dadokes still refused to let them pass with just that. The strongest handful of soldiers were sent to the front lines and began to try and fight him to get him out of the way, and after loosing one soldier to Dadoke's rage, the rest had crushed him in an instant. He was severely injured, but not defeated. One arrow from Beau, however, that was aimed at his heart but hit his foot instead, caused him to topple over out of the way. After seeing this, Foja flew off in a hurry to warn Leod who, when prompted to move, did so immediately, allowing the army to march on and eventually make camp for the night.
    Things seemed joyous to the others. The campfire, the singing and dancing, but Arlie, Anastasia, Beau and Charlotte knew what was going on, the seriousness of the situation, as well as Scheven. They knew what would happen if they failed, to any degree, and knew how the plan must be executed perfectly. While the rest of the village danced around the bonfire, singing songs and having fun, the four remained in Anastasia's tent, talking about the journey. Arlie wasn't sure why it had always fallen upon Anastasia's living quarters to always be their meetingplace, but that was how it was and seemed to always be.
    "They don't know the full severity. Coming from them, I feel like they deserve to know." Charlotte began. "Exactly. If I wasn't in this position I would want to know the full truth." Beau added. "Yes, I suppose you two are right." Anastasia agreed. Arlie did agree, but couldn't help but wonder if they knew the full truth how many of them would stay. Luna was powerful and likely had enlisted an army from the two sub-kingdoms. They decided that they would tell the people the end-goal in the morning, as Arlie was exhausted, and she left Anastasia's tent for her own. Her tent was one of the fancier four that had been made, but not all that much better. It was made of sturdier cloth and stronger sticks, but it was still a makeshift tent. Arlie tossed and turned until she decided to go outside and gaze at the stars. When she came out, she could see that Anastasia and Beau had done the same thing and were lying on the ground together. Arlie decided to leave them alone, since she wanted her own space to think. She chose a spot, lied down, and let her mind wader.
    They deserve to know the truth. But, how many will stay after? Yes, last time we attempted to take down Luna it was just Soleil and I, and we were both extremely tired, but we were still able to take out all of her guards. If that says something about Luna, the guards, or us I'm not sure. Regardless, they do deserve to know the truth.
Arlie went back and forth on it as much as the brilliant stars twinkled, and soon she began to feel as though she could go to sleep.
     The morning came, and Arlie knew what had to be done. She would tell the people with no further hesitation, or at the least, have Anastasia make the announcement. They came forward, knowing that the only person in the crowd who knew the severity that they were revealing was Scheven. He had come along in case a weapon needed repair, for he wasn't a fighter. After hearing the truth, Arlie expected a large sum of their army to run home, but this new knowledge seemed to only strengthen their determination. They knew what had happened to Anastasia, and didn't want the same, or worse, to happen to Soleil. They marched on with newfound speed and by the time that the next night came they were way ahead of where Arlie had estimated that they would be by now. She had expected the extra people would slow them down, but instead it seemed that they were only as slow as the slowest person, who was even fast themself. After only a week, compared to Arlie and Soleil's two, they had reached Imperial City.
     It looked the exact same as it had so long ago, the only difference was that they were arriving in the night rather than the day. The strong soldiers who had not been crushed by Dadokes came forward and pushed the gates open until there was a wide enough gap for the army to march through. They came into the castle expecting to find that Luna and Soleil had returned, but alas, they had not. The scout was right. Each of the four heads of the operation took a fourth of the army with them and checked each tower. Arlie herself opted to look in Luna's tower. Ordering her army into a straight line, they climbed the winding staircase to find the door wide open. The room seemed in perfect condition, except for the desk. Arlie went over to it and looked at the array of papers, where two in particular stood out to her. They were both letters, the first reading;

Queen Luna,
                It is with our sincerest apologies that we must inform you that we must disrupt your current plans. We are hosting a grand ball here in Faormen in your honor. We have some things that we need to discuss with you and need to discuss now. Do not worry, everything will be alright, but we are in great need of your attendance.
        Sincerely,
                           The King and Queen of Faormen

The second read;

Queen Luna,
                 The annual Rielweth gathering is happening soon! Me and Calxyan would love for you to come, though we also have some matters we need to discus with you here in Rielweth.
Can't wait,
                           King Ryaxleb

Arlie picked up both pieces of paper, pushed her guards out of the way, and ran back down the stairs where the other three had already returned. Beau and Charlotte hadn't found anything, Anastasia claimed to have seen a bedroom in disarray. Arlie explained how Luna's room was in perfect condition, then showed them the two letters. They read them and they sat in silence for a while. They were unsure what to do now. Each of the four had a different idea. Beau proposed that they go to Faormen, Anastasia proposed they go to Rielweth, and Charlotte proposed staying put and claiming the castle for themselves. Arlie agreed with Charlotte, though the castle wouldn't truly be theirs until Luna was captured. Tasks were given to everyone in order to keep up the pace in preparation for Luna's return. Arlie herself was on permanent day-time watch. Every other watcher was given a shift, but Arlie spent all of her waking hours out in the watchtower, staring at the road, waiting for her friend and their enemy.
    Arlie knew the others were worried about her, especially after what had happened with Anastasia, but Arlie knew that this was what she had to do. She had a choice in it as well, whereas Anastasia was forced into her situation. Nevertheless, her friends came to her to try and convince her to take a break. First came Anastasia, then Scheven, then Charlotte, then Beau, then any other villager that knew her somewhat well. None of them could get her to leave except her own body when it needed food or sleep, and in these moments away from the tower she was completely normal. During mealtimes she engaged in conversation, on her trips to and from her bed she walked and acted normally, it was only her obsession over her role as a watcher.
     The other watchtower was manned by others who changed shifts every hour between 4 people. Arlie's was taken over by Charlotte during the night, who was now also obsessed with her role. It had become so bad and Anastasia and Beau joined these shifts and required them to agree to follow the same schedule as the other tower.
    It was only now that Arlie had loosened her grip on the role that it had really mattered to have a watchperson. It had happened in the night, during one of the three hour chunks that she had slept. The citizens of Imperial City had begun to revolt against the Zellarid takeover. Arlie rushed to the soldier barracks, woke them, then ran to get her own sword. The archers, headed by Anastasia and Beau, ran so fast up the watchtowers they seemed to fly. Arlie and Charlotte headed their army and ran right up against the gates, for if the archers failed they would have to finish the job themselves. They had quickly run low on arrows, for many of them still had work to do with their aim, but Anastasia was able to kill a few as Beau severely injured others. All of the remaining arrows were given to the two, who continued to shoot as the other handful of archers ran to open the gates. "Now!" Arlie shouted as the gates opened wide enough. "Don't let any of them pass!"
     The archers ran to the back to prevent any Mirriejar people from entering the castle. Arlie herself was able to get rid of a few attackers, but more and more kept flooding in. But by the time that the sun rose, the Mirirejar rebels had given up and retreated. After the wounded were taken care of and they had made sure that they had indeed not lost one soldier in the battle, they celebrated. They opened up the ballroom doors of the castle and a grand party broke out.