Erivale: The Lost Princess

Chapter 21: Part 1

"If we enter in through the city limits here." Soren's fingers pointed to a spot on the large map. "We can go in with minimal resistance. The guard is notoriously weak here."

"It was weak before. After the escape, the entire city and the walls are probably swarming with guards like never before," Zora said with a shake of her head. Another plan shot down.

"What about portalling. Amberleigh could portal us in."

"She could portal some of us in. Her powers are not strong enough yet for that magnitude. It will kill her."

I sat down with a sigh at Zora's words. We had been standing around this table for hours debating strategy for our next move for the resistance. Most of the plans were either dead ends or ended up with me dying.

A dull ache was growing behind my left eye, and I rubbed at is anxiously. We had to come up with something soon to capitalize on the momentum from my scene at my coronation.

We also needed to find a way to reinsert informants back within the city limits. All rebels had been called back to the camp with the knowledge that I would be coming. It was the safest option for everyone, but it also meant that we were operating off a severe lack of information.

"Zora, you know we have to do something. We can't stay in this ravine forever. It's only a matter of time before the Ithican army is knocking on our front door. They could even be on their way now for all we know, and then this safe haven practically turns into the Ild Vann," Arne said.

Arne was one of Zora's closest advisors if you could call it that. The structure of the resistance was much different than anything I had ever seen in Erivale. Zora was clearly the leader, and those of us within the tent with her were also viewed in high regard and were trusted with missions, but they had no formal rank. Their power came from mutual respect.

I came to know that Arne had been a part of the resistance almost as long as Soren. He had even known Zora's grandfather, a sorcerer that had been helping the resistance before his death due to magic overload on a mission.

Arne was a fatherly figure to the entire camp even though he was already father to Octavius. Instead of going on missions, he stayed with the resistance majority helping to protect them, teach them to fight, and show the children how to hunt and forage.

"We will evacuate the camp before that happens," Zora said firmly. Her violet eyes showed a determination to keep everyone safe no matter what.

The group continued their conversation, hardly noticing I had retired myself to a low bench near the wall of the tent. The room was small and filled with a faint haze of smoke from a pipe that Soren was gently puffing on in concentration. The blue feathered air moved and curled around lazily, and the candlelight threw wavering shadows against the faces of everyone here.

We had all spent more time in this tent than we would have liked. Every night it was the same: we would stare at the map, suggestions would be made for tactics, and we would realize that none of them would work. This tent was the embodiment of our exhaustion, frustration, and anxiety. I hated it in here.

My eyes began to slowly close involuntarily. The days since I had left the palace had been long, and my time here at the rebel camp was almost as busy to my life at the palace. The difference between the two was that instead of literature lessons, I was helping plot rebel movements across the land and training even more vigorously than before. Half of my day or more was spent sword fighting and in hand to hand combat with anyone and everyone. Any able-bodied individual capable of fighting was trained like soldiers. The prospect of battle, either as self-defense or an attack, was always at the forefront of the group's minds.