The Mysteries of Tiber

Chapter 19: Undercover Again

Nava's PoV

We are all going undercover together. Me and Nightbreeze are walking in the front together. Hopefully this is a good idea. We walk until it's very dark and then stop to make camp for the night. Rosa and Farrow are making the fire. At least I think they are because we are all wearing our helmets. The rest of us are setting up bedding for the night. We quickly get up and pull out our swords when we hear someone coming. There's more Dark Knights that come into camp. Nightbreeze tells them something in there secret language. They lower their swords halfway but still don't completely trust us. Nightbreeze puts her sword back in its holder than takes off her helmet. The Knights drop their swords and kneel. She continues talking to them and then they get up, get there swords, than rush off. I ask "What did you tell them?"

She turns to me and grabs a waterskin. She says "I told them there Queen is back. It's a good thing they actually believed me. The crushed berries in my eyes made them look black so they believed me."

She pours water out and into her eyes to wash the berries out. I ask her when she's done "Are you crying?"

"It's the berry juice in my eyes. It's the reaction to some of it still being in my eyes."

"What are you having them do?"

"Spread the word the Queen is back and see how everyone reacts."

"What about us? They have been tricked by all of us before. Won't they take us prisoner if they see us?"

"No. I can convince them with your help."

Quintrine asks "What do you need us to do?"

“Act like the Dark Knights and that you changed your minds and believe in the Evil Gods now. You have to make it convincing otherwise they won't believe you."

Rosa asks "What are our roles? Who's the leader? And whatever else it is."

I tell them "Nightbreeze is the leader. We all just follow her."

She tells me "No, you're the leader of the group. I'm pretending to be the Evil Queen who's the leader of everyone."

I ask her "Are you sure?"

"Yes I am. It will keep our group together if you say you're the leader."

Farrow asks "So you want us all to be quiet unless Nava or you tell us to speak?"

"Yeah. That's how the Dark Knights work. But also if any of their leaders tell you to speak you can. Don't give anything away about not being a real Knight."

We head out in full armor and Rosa is carrying the enchanted bag. We make camp for the night when it's hard to see. We make a fire and take our helmets off to eat. We set shifts and go to sleep. I'm the first shift so I stand up and put my helmet back on and look around. I'm walking around camp so I don't fall asleep. Hopefully going undercover will work and we won't get caught. In the past going undercover has never ended good. When my shift's over I wake Rosa up then take my helmet off to sleep. It's uncomfortable wearing armor and sleeping but I'm used to it. I've slept plenty of different places from all the traveling I do. I wonder what I'll do after the war. Probably go back to doing jobs for money. Maybe killing any loaners from the Highlord army. Or settling down in a town for a while before continuing. The winter's do get really bad. I fall asleep and I'm dreaming about making money.

I get woken up when the sun has just barely begun to rise. I quickly get up and put my helmet on. The others do the same. Farrow was last on watch and started waking us up. We all pull out our swords and get ready for whoever is coming. A couple minutes later a small group of Dark Knights come. We all put our swords away and the lead Knight asks "What are you all doing here?"

Nightbreeze says "We were out doing something confidential."

"What would that be?"

"You don't need to know."

"I do. I'm second in command of the army."

Nightbreeze takes her helmet off and they all quickly kneel. The second in command says "I'm sorry my Queen. I didn't know it was you."

"You should be. Where is the camp at."

"A couple miles north. Should we bring you there?"

"No. I can find my way. We will head there shortly."

"But Queen-"

Nightbreeze harshly says "Don't mistake me for someone else otherwise you know the penalty."

The Knight bows his head down then quickly gets up and leaves with his group. Nightbreeze turns around and her eyes are her normal color. But she did sound strict and demanding like the Evil Queen is. We pack up camp and Quintrine started telling us another story of one of her adventures. We finish packing up and start walking to the Highlord army's camp. Nightbreeze puts her helmet back on again and we keep walking. We know we are close to camp when we see Dark Knights, Goblins, Ogres, and Draconians walking in and out of camp. Others that are patrolling around camp. We walk into camp and it's huge. This is where the whole army is gathering before they leave and fight. There's way more here than our Allied army. The only chance the Allied army has is getting more people. And we need to separate the army here. How can we do all of that? 

*Picture at the top of the chapter is some of the berries Nightbreeze crushed and put in her eyes*