The Exiled Princess (sequel to Esther)

Chapter 10

"Hello Esther. Good to have you back." Vern says to me. Krace gives me a hug. "Thanks." I say. We sit down and the meeting begins.

Our meeting was about battle strategies and what we should do. You see, when I was kidnapped, nothing was really happening anywhere in Cordial. Now, Awry's army had been moving across the Vast Lands, and she's been imprisoning innocent citizens in Cordialis and Bane. She's also torturing important leaders too. Surprisingly though, the army didn't use the portals. Guess there were too many of them. They had started moving three days ago. Now, they were near Giant's Keep.

The plan was, when the fight would start, to let the soldiers advance first. Then if things got rough, we'd send giants along with, us.

That was the plan. A pretty amazing plan, huh? Note the sarcasm. Okay, maybe our plan was okay, but not the best. But don't ask me. I have no idea how to plan a battle. That's why I stayed quiet the entire time.

"Esther?" Amia looks at me. "Yeah?" "Do you think you're ready to fight a battle?" "Umm, sure. I guess. I just need training." "Okay, then. You and your friends will train everyday for a week. Hopefully our soldiers will hold for that long." I nod.

A messenger came in and handed a letter to Krace. Her face fell. As did Vern's when he read it.

"What is it?" Altri asks. "A group of soldiers are going to Dragon's Lair. It'll be disastrous if Awry gets the dragons on her side." Krace says burying her face in her hands.

"So what else did the King say?" Vern asks Amia. "He said that we should first, get the help of the giants, second, plan how to get all humans to Giants Keep, which we did, then, prepare for war." Amia explains. "Right. Well, since we're done with all that, we have newer problems to Attend to. Our army is prepared and ready to attack Awry's army. But some of Awry's soldiers are going to Dragons Lair. So, we need to send a little band that'll go after them or before them. They can't have the dragons working for them." Vern says.

"A band of seven, maybe?" Andrew asks. "Why seven?" Amia asks her son. "So we could go, Sophia could go, Andrew and Esther could go, and two guides." Brandon explained. The kings and queens nod thinking about it.

"We'll be your guides." A lady says stepping into the light. "Isis! Jenia!" I exclaim running to them. "When did you get here?" Ashley asks after their hug. "An hour ago. We just slipped in here before the meeting started." Jenia says. "You could've come out earlier." Amia says giving them both a hug. "We know. But we wanted to come out at the right time." Isis replies. "Come on. We're not yet done talking." Altri calls. We sit back down.

"So, it's settled then. Andrew, Esther, Brandon, Ashley, Sophia, Isis and Jenia will go to Dragons Lair. Use the portal if you wish." Krace welcomes us. We look at each other and smile. This was gonna be fun.

"Any news Isis and Jenia?" Amia asks them. "Well, half of the members of the court have been imprisoned and are starving to death, others, are being tortured in becoming crazy, and most are slaves." Isis begins. "Awry has also rebuilt the castle into a strong fort. She also burned down half of the villages causing people to flee and find new homes while some died." Jenia adds.

"What about in Bane?" Krace asks looking at me. "I don't know. I was in the castle. Awry spoke to me, sure, but I don't know what's going on there." I say. "Awry spoke to you?" Amia asks astonished. I nod and tell them what she asked me. "I see. Good thing you said no. Now, Ashley and Brandon. Do you two have any idea what Awry's doing in Bane?" She asks the other couple. "Well, all we know is, she blanketed Bane's atmosphere in some sort of black blanket. Her fort is strong too. We also saw people running around like lunatics. I think they may have been important people before." Ashley says shrugging. Brandon nods, agreeing.

An hour later, Andrew, Ashley, Brandon, Sophia and I head to the courtyard for training. It was still early afternoon. Plenty of time for training. Which means, I get to experience more pain.

Andrew had to support me all the way downstairs. What am I gonna do when I fight, if I can't even walk on my own?

We started with weapons. "Okay. Fighting in battle is way different from fighting in a training room or training ground." Andrew addresses us. "He's right. We need to practice stealth. And strategy." Brandon joins in. We girls nod and we run into the forest. "We'll do this by team. Sophia? Which team do you want to be on?" Andrew asks her.

"Why don't we do this boys versus girls? You guys have more experience than we do." I ask. "Sure." So the boys run deeper into the forest while we count to ten. Sort of like hide and seek. Except, we were all wearing foam armor and we need to shoot a target. When we reached ten, we run into the forest and start searching for the boys.

We split up. I run to the nearest pine and climb it, shouldering my bow along with my quiver. I look around but still concealing myself. I spot Andrew walking slowly looking around a few feet away from the tree I'm in. I climb down quietly and stalk. I use "stealth mode" as everyone calls it. I see him hiding behind a tree. Wearing these boots must really pay off. I walk behind the tree on the opposite side. He looks around. I get out and shoot an arrow at him. He laughs.

"Good one. I didn't even hear you. Except for when you started breathing heavily. And I thought you were behind the other tree." He says punching my arm lightly. I laugh. The other girls shout calling out our names. We run to where they are.

"Another round?" Ashley asks. "Of course." Sophia replies. "You girls are fast." Brandon says. we shrug likes it's no big deal. And so, another round begins. We did the same thing, except this time, we hid while the boys find us. We played this for about an hour. Then, Amia called me for our one on one practice. Conveyor to conveyor.

"Arms up!" She yells. I'm on defense while she's on offense. I block out some hits and counter attack, the way she taught me too. Two hours later, we switch. I'm on offense and she's on defense.

"Alright. That's enough. Come on. It's time for dinner, everyone." She calls out to all of us. We shoulder our weapons, then head inside for dinner. The smells were so delicious, that you could smell them from the hallway.

We sat down and ate. There wasn't much talk. Guess everyone was planning their own future of what'll happen in a few weeks.

A messenger came in and handed Krace another letter.

"What is it?" Amia asked them. We all waited. We were all done with dinner anyway. "Awry's soldiers have attacked Atro. They've fallen. Along with Heraina and the Beyonds, we're the only kingdom left standing." Krace says quietly. "Wait. Isn't Atro a part of Cordialis?" I ask. "Well, it's on the border of Cordialis. We're partners. In war, and trading. But we're not really of the same kingdom. Atro is a very strong kingdom. Many advanced weapons are found there." Amia explains. I nod my head. I'm starting to get used to nodding.

"Where are the Beyonds?" Ashley asks. I was just about to ask that too. "They're the farthest place here in Cordial, away from the rest of us. Go beyond Giant's Keep, and travel for almost a month, then you'll reach the Beyonds." Altri says. "So, are there people living there?" "Well, yes. It's also a kingdom. Though not many do live there. But no one has gone back there for a long time, so we're not sure." Altri says again shrugging.

"What about the villages of the fairies? The ones between here and the Beyonds and in the Vast Land?" Sophia asks. "What do you mean?" Yera asks her. "Well, are they being attacked too?" "Not that we know of. Fairies are very hard to beat."

"I didn't know there were fairies here." I say. "There are many experiments from the witches that exist. Giants and fairies are some." Andrew explains. "So there are more?" Ashley asks. "Yup." Brandon replies. "Like dragons, large snakepedes, and other creatures. they live in the Beyonds though." Wow. Witches can be pretty amazing when they're not evil.

"If those creatures join Awry. We're all most probably doomed." Krace says. We all stop talking and I think all of us are really thinking of what the future might hold. It would not be good.