The Princess and The Bandit

FOURTEEN

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(flashback . . .)

It was the second elvish war, a time where millions of elves died over disputes in territory and prejudice in religion. There were humans and faeries and other races involved, there were significant casualties on all sides, but it was the elves that suffered the greatest loss.

Michael Jauregui was only a young prince at the time, sent by his father to answer a call for aid from the king of the elvish kingdom of Javaad. Went alongside him was his only true and fiercely loyal friend, Simon.

Their first mission was not to join in the ensuing battles amongst the elves right away, but to free a large group of religious elves from a very hostile enemy camp. Despite being young and quite impulsive, both Michael and Simon are witty and very determined. The two of them, along with only about fifty armed Arcadian soldiers, plotted their course of action and sneaked through the enemy camp. They were very smart about it, ambushing a number of elvish guards first and then putting on their armor to disguise themselves. Then, they pretended to transport prisoners for execution in some remote area.

They were almost successful in it if not for the witches, identical twins from Weiss Tower, who got mixed up with the group. The two argued a lot, and they argued with raised voices.

It was because of these arguing twins, who were only traveling to get some magical supplies but got tangled in the chaos of war, that cost Michael and Simon the lives of twenty two of their soldiers. They eventually managed to get all the prisoners far from the enemy camp and into safety, including the bickering twins, but at the price of twenty two lives who got killed in the fight. Michael was furious about it, the young prince who never took it so lightly losing his people so tragically, and Simon was too. But between the two of them, Simon has always been the cool headed one. Michael was quick to lash out at the twins, one of which was ready to cast a spell on him out of spite, but Simon was very quick to diffuse the tension among them all.

He calmed the young prince of Arcadia down and then had a decent civilized conversation with the twins. The twins, Yvonne and Yvette, were both charmed with Simon and his words of wisdom. Eventually, they both grew infatuated with Simon. But only one of them has caught Simon's heart.

Simon grew closer to Yvette during that wartime in the strange elvish lands. They're both not a native to that country but it is where the love between them developed and grew strong as they traveled and come across dangerous adventures. Yvonne on the other hand didn't take this so well. Being the jealous evil twin sister, she vowed to get Simon for herself. Yvonne devised ways to seduce Simon but failed pathetically and miserably. He knows which woman he's truly in love with even if his eyes will go blind.

And in desperate attempt to have Simon, Yvonne killed her twin sister and came up with a story that she had been summoned to rush back to their coven in Weiss Tower immediately. She expects Simon to follow Yvette and when he does, Yvonne will cast an ancient powerful spell on him so they can be together for the rest of their lives. It was when the war was peaking up and Simon was presented with a choice of whether to stand by the prince of Arcadia and go to war with him, or follow Yvette in Weiss Tower, unbeknownst to him that his beloved is already dead.

Simon was very conflicted. Michael was well aware of his best friend's struggle and he understands. He has already fallen in love with someone back home so he knows how it must feel. He encouraged Simon to follow his heart even if it means that Michael won't have the best archer he's ever known by his side during all the fight.

But Simon has always been a family oriented person and he values family the most. He sees the young prince as his brother even if they don't share the same noble blood. And he can't find it in himself to leave his brother in this war. So a decision has been made in his mind. He will fight in the war with Michael and if he survives to live another day, he will follow Yvette in Weiss Tower when everything was over.