Two days after the incident, Leona decided to throw her guilt aside and prepare for their venture into Neizagaard. She explored different spots in Kezta Frasika with Evra and Jarael as they inspected the seven passages into the fortress scattered across the island.

They risked working into the island’s many ominous forests at the dead of night so as to elicit as little attention as possible from the local inhabitants’ prying eyes.

“This is one of the passages passing under the sea to Neizagaard, bright one,” a gnome said gruffly, holding up a musty lantern up into the darkness, gesturing to a massive cave entrance blocked by a huge vine-strewn boulder hidden behind several dead trees, almost invisible to the naked eye. Beyond the rocky outcrop, the waves thundered off in the distance, sending sea mist to obscure their whereabouts.

Leona craned her neck to take in the enormity of the passageway and nodded her head, pulling the cloak tighter around her to ward off the cold.

“This is good,” she said, “A whole cohort of soldiers can pass through here, am I right?”

The gnome nodded, “Can fit anything no larger than a dragon.”

Leona nodded again and turned to Evra, “Do you have enough men to fill seven cohorts?”

Evra nodded, “Yes, I surmise that we may even have more.”

“Good,” Leona finally said after a moment’s thought, “all we need to do now is to make plans.”

“Will there be anything else that you might require?” Evra asked, replacing the silver helm to her head.

Leona turned to her in the misty blackness. “Tomorrow, gather the elite of the Serelda and the other commanding officers. We’ll be tracing our routes into the fortress and organize our lines of defense.”

“Well said, Leona,” Jarael said as they made their back to the palace, “I believe you have been thinking of this for long?”

Leona snorted as she almost stumbled over unseen tree roots.

“Given the amount of tension we’ve been under and the meagerness of the time we have even to think, I have no idea how we’re going to go about this.”

Jarael frowned behind her, “What do you say to the fey tomorrow, then?”

“Oh I wouldn’t be the one commanding the troops,” Leona replied as they trudged up the leaf-strewn paths up the southern end of the Erihppas, “You’ll be the one in charge of that.”

Jarael gaped wordlessly at her in shock, “Me? Leona,” he hesitated and made sure Evra was out of earshot before wrenching Leona back.

“The fey consider my kind as enemies,” Jarael said in silence, “How could you even think that they would follow my orders?”

Leona patted Jarael cheek gently, and smiled up at him.

“Times are changing, my dear Giraj,” she said simply.

Jarael scowled, “What makes you say that?”

The day dawned beautifully as Prolopa, who seemed to have taken up Reanitchka’s recently-vacated position as the head of the Serelda, called the hall to order as the oak doors swung open to admit Leona, Jarael and Evra amidst an annoyingly-deafening fanfare. They took their places around the circular table.

Five soldiers, three men and two women, all stood almost at the same time, intimidating in their gleaming silver armor. Prolopa and two other faeries represented the Serelda. Tavus, the only one human aside from Leona, stood up awkwardly at the situation. With a wave from Evra’s hand they all took to their seats.

“I believe everyone here knows the reason for us coming here?” Evra called out. There was a low rumbling reply from around the table, and a number of nodding heads.

“The goddess, Shaeryva, the bright one, the Radiant Dawn, and the River of Life, has honored our race and our land with her presence and has bestowed upon us wonderful tidings.

“The gods have brought us, through her, the news of our redemption, a chance to bring back the glorious Empire we had under the great King, Jamori the Valiant.

“The bright one has confirmed to us that our King is alive and is indeed kept away in the infernal fortress of Neizagaard, to which she has brought us a way in and the paths we must take to come out victorious.

“With this, we have considered that we should provide ourselves with protection. And, in the past centuries that we have been assaulted constantly by the forces of the Demon King (“Does she mean Ramadak?” Tavus asked Leona sitting beside him. Leona only shrugged), it is crucial that we arm ourselves well for the impending onslaught from his minions.

“Hence, I give the floor to, in Captain Erfla’s absence, the commanding officer for this operation, Jarael nad Giraj.”

“We are going to be taking orders from a blood traitor?” the more superior of the men roared. Jarael stood up serenely, disregarding the sudden outburst.

“Abocer,” Prolopa bleated from across the table, “you are letting your pride cloud your judgment.”

Abocer placed his hand on the hilt of his sword meaningfully, “I only heed orders coming from Captain Erfla Greenhaven,” he said haughtily.

“Then you can go and follow him, then,” Tavus said from his seat, glaring at the large faery, who in turn glowered at him.

“Keep out of this, human. This does not concern the likes of you,” growled Abocer.

“Do sit down, Abocer,” a female officer said, “let us hear what the Giraj has to say.”

“Or you can do as I say and follow your Captain to wherever rock he’s hiding under now,” Tavus called out louder. Leona hissed at him. Evra put her hand on her hip and turned to Prolopa.

“Where is Erfla, by the way?” she asked. The goat-faery shook his great horned-head.

“Some guards told me that the Captain fled after Reanitchka’s – accident,” Prolopa replied sadly. Evra furrowed her brow and turned back towards the heated dispute between Abocer and Tavus. She sighed loudly.

“Abocer, please, do display some tact.”

Abocer stood his ground, “I am not taking orders from a traitor,” he said stubbornly.

Jarael cleared his throat and looked at the faery through his azure-blue eyes and said coolly, “Officer, if the present circumstances don’t suit you, you may as well step out of this hall.”

He let his eyes drill into Abocer’s own, “I could do with one man less. I suppose it would be easier that way.” He smirked.

Abocer bared his teeth in fury and unsheathed his sword, the Serelda gasped. A petite faery tumbled out of his seat in fright.

Jarael rolled his eyes and the enchanted sword slid out of his palm, glinting in the lamplight. Gripping it, he let it hang idly by his side. Abocer’s jaw tensed and lowered his weapon.

“Shall we continue then, officer?” Jarael said calmly, smiling. The pale glow of the lanterns glinted in the ladies’ eyes. Still fuming, Abocer dropped back down in his seat.

The female officer giggled beside him, “He’s feisty!”

“As I was saying,” Jarael said, spreading a map of Kezta Frasika and Neizagaard on the table. Black lines and strange symbols were etched across the two maps. Seven straight lines connected the map of Kezta Frasika to that of Neizagaard.

“I have studied the possible entrances into the island of Skegmarr. The journey from here to there is an estimated two days’ march. That includes all the stops we have to take in between.

“Since the underground passages here on the island all start relatively on the same side, all seven troops can reach Neizagaard almost at the same time, though those taking to the northern battlements of Neizagaard will have about a half-day delay.

“We have sent scouts out to the outskirts of Neizagaard prior to this assembly and they have returned confirming our presentiment about T’lakr guarding the premises. They are greater than us in numbers but they are seemingly disorganized. Only the southern battlements are heavily guarded. We will concentrate our troops there while the others can enter the Western and Eastern battlements fairly easily.”

Jarael continued to trace their positions and routes as he traced a finger through the tunnels. Tavus took the opportunity to whisper in Leona’s ear while the others listened intently to Jarael’s words.

“Can I have a word with you after we’re through?” he asked. Leona looked at him with a quizzical look in her eyes.

“I have something to tell you. It’s important,” he said. Then he focused his attention on Jarael again, who was giving out the commanders their place around the island.

Leona looked at him for a moment and turned her attention as well.

“Now we have encountered a problem as to when we attack once we have positioned ourselves. A problem duly remedied by the Serelda, if you please,” Jarael motioned at the petite faery who tumbled out of his seat earlier.

The faery stood up shakily, his chest barely reaching the top of the table. He fumbled with papers in his hand as he stood up in his seat for better elevation.

He blinked massive baby-like black eyes and cleared his throat.

“The Serelda have agreed upon sending battle mages to this skirmish,” he squeaked, “There will be fourteen in all, two for each troop. They will relay messages to each other through their minds, thus alerting the other troops if one is failing. They will also relay the command when our commander here has declared the attack.” With that, he bowed and scuttled back into his seat.

The other members of the assembly nodded in agreement.

“When do we attack, then?” one male officer asked, “How much time, too, do we have to prepare for this?”

“We prepare at once and we lead our troops to Skegmarr in three days’ time,” Jarael announced.

“I will then request to be excused,” the male officer said, standing up, “I will be organizing our men at the barracks at once.”

Jarael nodded, “You may do so, major.”

The officer bowed towards Leona and strode out of the hall, cape billowing in his wake.

Jarael drew himself up from his seat, “That will leave the goddess and Lieutenant Evra to venture inside the prison itself. Twenty men will go with them there, and include a battle mage with you, too,” he said towards Evra, “We need to know where you are. And if you have freed the King, notify us and we will call off the men and withdraw from the island.”

Evra nodded, “I guess the rest is in the hands of fate now, is it?”

Jarael nodded, “It most certainly is.”

Another female guard piped up, “Are there other possible dangers that we may encounter on the island?”

Jarael surveyed the maps for a moment and said, “Yes, actually. You see, Skegmarr is also a volcano. But it has been dormant for the past few centuries and does not pose as a grave threat.”

Everyone nodded and with final reminders, Evra adjourned the assembly and everyone scattered and went on their own agendas.

Leona’s heart pounded in her chest at the battle plan. She anticipated a fight ever since Lord Thu’ril introduced the whereabouts of Neizagaard to them. But now that they were actually going into the fortress, she felt almost reluctant to be going at all. Only her thoughts of rescuing her grandparents and King Jamori kept her from succumbing to cowardice.

The sight of Tavus approaching snapped her back from her thoughts.

Tavus smiled at her and sighed nervously. Leona smiled back, “What is it that you had to say to me that is of importance?”

Tavus looked down at his boots and shoved his hands into his pockets.

When he looked back up he was a little pink at the ears.

He bit his lip and said, “Well, after all our adventures in the past few months, I felt that I needed to spend time with you before our descent into Neizagaard a few days from now.

“With all your new responsibilities as a goddess, I kind of missed the times back in Haikhan.”

Leona looked down at the ripples of her skirt on the floor in a sudden pang of homesickness and said quietly, “I miss that, too.”

She looked up at Tavus and smiled brightly, her face shone with hope, “But don’t worry,” she said, “once we have grandma and grandpa back things will be like before, though I doubt that we’ll still be living in Haikhan after all that’s happened.”

They both laughed, and an uneasy silence followed it.

“No, actually there’s something I needed to tell you,” Tavus finally said, digging his hands further inside his pockets.

Leona looked at him, a puzzled expression in her face.

“What is it, then?” she said quietly, something inside her made her guts squirm, like having butterflies in her stomach.

Tavus took Leona’s hands into his own and looked straight at her.

“I just –,” he hesitated, “I wanted to –”

He bit his lip again and sighed loudly. Tavus looked up and in one quick move, planted a fleeting kiss on Leona’s lips.

Leona’s eyes grew wide with shock, but not unpleasantly so. She was at a loss for words. Still, she held unto Tavus’ hands as the latter broke free.

Tavus smiled at her dumbstruck expression, and gripped her hands tightly before he let them go.

“You understand what I mean,” he smiled at her widely and strode to the door and yanked it open with a flourish. The doors boomed loudly as it closed shut, echoing in the vast room.

Now alone in the hall, Leona felt her face flush, and her hand almost instinctively touched her lips. A small smile broke on her face as a giddy feeling took over her, and she turned to look at the door.