[A/N I have no idea what happened to this formatting. Hopefully it's fixed now.]
Durandal's blade was thirty-nine inches of perfectly balance steel, as sharp as the day it was forged. The hilt, wrapped in leather and inset with designs of silver and gold wire, was comfortably sized to be used two-handed or one-handed. Roy left well enough alone until they returned to Ostia Castle at which point he could no longer contain his excitement. Ostia castle boasted a first class practice arena, and that was where Roy went as soon as the party arrived.
Lilina had never seen the weapon out of its sheathe and she too had her fair share of curiosity. She followed Roy to the arena and watched the blade glitter in the sunlight. She had no feeling for swords, but even she could tell this one was beautiful.
Roy was used to one-handed swords, but Durandal was a weapon of high caliber and he picked up its use with little trouble.
At one point he stopped and held the blade straight up, examining the polished steel with an admiring glance. "It's lighter than I expected," he said.
"It would have to be," Lilina said. "If one is fighting dragons, I imagine speed is important."
"Just that it's such a big sword. A proper warblade," Roy said. "Even a divine weapon like this, you think it would be heavier."
A clatter of boots on stone drew both their attentions to the door. Merlinus burst into the arena, disheveled and out-of-breath. Merlinus had always been fussy and meticulous, but now he did not even pause to straighten out his tunic before speaking.
"Lady Lilina! Master Roy! A squadron of Bernese flying knights is outside the castle!"
"They're here already?" Roy asked, and slid Durandal back into its sheathe.
"Blast!" Lilina said. "I had hoped they'd give us slightly more time to pick an appropriate battlefield." In fact, she had not wanted to return to the castle at all. All of the same issues raised in the previous meeting still applied, but she had been overruled. The soldiers needed a place to rest, a place that would have enough provisions to feed all of them. They could not, and would not, tax the ordinary citizens of Ostia in such a manner. When Lilina brought up the fact that they had been planning to go into the countryside anyway, and they could hunt their food, Merlinus replied that there were still many supplies needed that could only be purchased in a large city. And so to the castle they had returned.
Neither Merlinus nor Roy responded to her comment. They were already headed for the front entrance. Lilina picked up her skirts in one hand and followed after them, making sure to snag a spell book from the chest near the door as she did so. If it came to a fight, she would be ready.
Roy and his soldiers had talked about the dragon knights. Merlinus had talked about dragons too, what he remembered for them childhood misadventures of their parents.
No amount of stories could have prepared Lilina for the truth.
The dragon knight at the head of this squadron was nothing at all like the wyvern riders behind him. Wyverns were intimidating in their own way, with sharp fangs and long claws, but they were common, domesticated, and no larger than an average horse. The wyverns facing them held patiently still, waiting for their master's commands, but exhibiting little initiative of their own.
The dragon was massive, twice as large at least as the largest of the wyverns behind it, wyverns that looked like mere playthings. Each scale on the beast gleamed like a jewel in the sunlight, each claw glowed like polished ivory, and there was fire in the dragon's eyes that was never seen in its lower kin. Each line of its body radiated wildness. This was not a tame creature, not by any means. It tolerated its rider, but this was a creature that knew its own mind.
The man mounted on the dragon flipped his golden hair with one hand and sneered down at the small force gathered by the gate.
"So you're Roy, are you?" he asked. "I must thank you for getting rid of that idiot Leygance for me. But now be a smart little boy and hand Ostia over to me!"
Lilina clutched her spell book to her chest and put her free hand on her hip. "Ostia isn't his to give. And I would never hand my country over to the likes of you!"
The dragon rider only laughed. "And what? You intend to oppose me with this pathetic little rabble?" He slid a sword out from its sheathe and pointed it at them. "Fine with me! I'll crush you just like I did with that fool Hector!"
Lilina's breath caught in her throat, and her fingers curled more tightly around the tome she was gripping. Before she could act, however, a new voice cut into the fray.
"That's enough!"
Everyone turned to see who approached.
In front of them, a Bernese wyvern soldier wormed his way to the front of the pack. "General Narcian! Etrurian troops have appeared!"
"I can see that you idiot," the dragon rider snarled. He raised his sword, as if to smite the hapless soldier, but he didn't get a chance.
A legion of mounted knights approached from the west, armor and weapons glinting in the sunlight, banners marked with the Etrurian crest fluttering high above. The two riders at the front of the legion stopped, and their followers did likewise, all moving in perfect harmony with each other.
One of the riders was familiar to Lilina from her infrequent trips to Etruria, the other was much more familiar as the woman who had tutored both her and Roy in their younger years. Generals Percival and Cecilia, two of the highest-ranking people in all of Etruria.
Percival spoke first. "I am Knight General Percival of Etruria. We received a petition for aid and as of now, Ostia is an Etrurian protectorate."
"What?" General Narcian didn't seem to believe what he was hearing.
His reaction perfectly expressed what Lilina herself was feeling. Ostia as part of Etruria? This was the first she had heard of it. She stared at General Percival, but he seemed in earnest. General Cecilia looked likewise unperturbed. Lilina glanced at Roy. He seemed pleased, and not at all surprised. A sudden flower of anger and suspicion bloomed in her heart.
General Cecilia crossed her hands on her lap and stared up at the Bernese General, serene as ever. "You seem unsatisfied by this news. You can, of course, still fight us for control. But do your men stand a chance against our numbers?"
Narcian was nearly incoherent with rage. He levelled the sword at Cecilia and Percival. Magic crackled along its length, blindingly bright. "You! You-"
Cecilia paid no attention to the obvious threat. "I am Sorcery General Cecilia of Etruria. Ostia is now under our protection, and we will fight for it."
In all this commotion the wyvern rider had not moved from his commander's side. "General Narcian please control your temper!" he said now, urgency apparent in every syllable. "We might be able to fight one Etrurian general but Percival and Cecilia together? We'll be slaughtered!"
Narcian snarled again, nearly as feral as his dragon. Then he slammed his sword back into its sheathe, its light extinguished as quickly as it had appeared. "I know! But this isn't over. You better watch your backs from now on, generals." With that he kicked the dragon solidly in the side and it launched itself into flight. The wyverns followed their brethren, leaving the ground empty except for the Etrurian army and the sad remnants of the Lycian Alliance.
Once they were gone, Lilina turned on her so-called-friend. "You gave Ostia away? It isn't in your power to make such a decision, Roy!" She spat out his name, one syllable, a reminder that she was the power here, not him.
Roy raised his hands defensively. "You have to understand Lilina! The Lycian army was devastated! Lord Hector was killed, you were kidnapped, and Bern was menacing our borders! We didn't feel like we had any other choice." He caught her free hand in his own, and met her eyes with his own, bright blue, shining with sincerity and good will. In that moment, Lilina hated him more bitterly than she had ever hated anyone. "I would have done anything to rescue you, to keep Lycia safe. But we didn't have the numbers to do it on our own."
Lilina had been trying hard to keep her losses at arm's length, to be strong and resolute like her father had been. She had seen him grieve, and keep moving forward. He had no other choice. She had no other choice either, but more than that, she wanted to be like him.
This was too much.
This was her home, the only thing she had left, that Roy had passed off so casually. Everything crashed back in on her all at once – all her losses, all the stress and danger, all of the small, subtle slights, intentional and otherwise.
One tear rolled down her cheeks, hot as dragon's fire, then another and another. The tears did nothing to diminish her anger. "You could have told me! You could have said 'hey, Lilina, I gave your home away to someone else, just wanted to let you know'!" She jerked her arm out of her grasp and raised it to her eyes, letting the soft wool of her bliaut soak up the tears and block her view of Roy's face all at once. "Do I mean that little to you? Or you think so highly of yourself that you can do as you please?"
Footsteps sounded across the grass, and someone cleared their throat uncomfortably.
General Cecilia said, "I'm sure General Roy did not mean to cause you any distress, Lady Lilina." She put a hand on Lilina's shoulder. "We are only here to help, not to take control of Ostia away from you permanently. When this is over I will see to it that it is returned to Lycian control."
Percival joined in. "General Cecilia is quite fierce when she needs to be. She argued with the king to be allowed to come here at all and won. I am certain that with her here Ostia will be in good hands during these trouble times."
Lilina's tears had slowed, if not stopped completely. She scrubbed at her face with her arm and looked up the Etrurian generals, determined to make the best of this horrible situation. She did not think that Etruria would be so eager to give up a foothold into Lycia, but she curtsied. "Thank you, General Percival. It would be rude of me to refuse your aid as you have travelled so far to help us. Would you like to come inside and rest?"
Percival shook his head. "I appreciate your offer of hospitality, Lady Lilina, but I must be going. Etruria needs her generals, you understand. I will leave you in Cecilia's capable care." He offered a bow both to her and to Roy. "I do hope that when we meet again, it is under better circumstances." He returned to his horse and swung up into the saddle with practiced ease. At his signal, half of the soldiers fell out of rank and followed him back to the west, heading for Etruria once again.
General Cecilia gave a wan smile. "How about we take this conversation inside?"
Lilina dried her face again and nodded. Fortunately, her tears had subsided, but the outburst had only increased the sullen pit of anger simmering in her soul. "Yes, I think we have quite a bit to discuss." She tried to sound calm and in control as she had so often seen both of her parents pretend to be, but her heart was not in. The words came with an undercurrent of malice.
Cecilia ignored the tone with practiced ease. "In truth," she said as they walked through the wide double doors leading into Castle Ostia's great hall, "Roy has done us a favor of sorts by asking for our aid. You shouldn't be too angry at him."
Lilina could not think of a polite way to respond to that, so she said nothing.
Roy was walking to Cecilia's left. "I don't understand, I thought this was a favor for us?"
"Bern's actions have been something of a concern to us," Cecilia said. "But they have made no moves against Etruria, and we have no active alliances with Lycia. When Roy asked us for aid, he gave us an excuse to show our displeasure."
"You mean to declare war on Bern," Lilina said flatly.
Cecilia inclined her head. "As you like. But I assure you, again, that we have no intention of claiming Ostia permanently at this time. Our goal is merely to remind Bern of her place in the world."
"At this time," Lilina echoed. Then she shook her head. There was nothing more to be done about this for the time being. She could hardly challenge Sorcery General Cecilia and all of her troops over what was essentially an inheritance dispute. She could not challenge Roy over actions undertaken, supposedly, in order to save her life. And, of course, there was still Bern to consider. "So," she said, swallowing her vitriol, "what do we do now?"
Roy gave her a small, awkward smile. "Now, with your permission, I would like to call a council of war."
"Very well," said Lilina. "I believe the throne room is clean by now. It should be large enough to seat everyone."
