- Chapter 7: Trial by Fire -

Having finished drills with Alex's squad, Mayfair went to check on the squads performing guard duty. Opening the heavy front doors of Castle Cypress, she prepared herself for the worst, though to be fair the worst hadn't happened in over a month.

"Is everyone at their posts?" She looked around, and was pleasantly surprised. Deanna's group was patrolling the outer area with a firm vigilance; Eric's removal had apparently taken all the tendency towards distraction out of the group. Natasha's squad marched along the inner side of the moat, and outmatched the rigid adherence of Deanna's squad with a lively alertness.

In point of fact, the one matter for concern was Natasha herself being on duty. Vyra had been scheduled to relieve her nearly an hour ago, and it was unlike the well-spoken centaur to shirk from her duties. It was clear that Natasha was overdoing things yet again.

Concern riding her mind, Mayfair approached her. "Natasha, are you alright?" When the young guard looked back with a puzzled expression, she elaborated, "I've been worried about you. You've been doing double guard duty lately."

Natasha gave a dismissive wave of her head; her thoughts were clearly elsewhere. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

She was a tough nut to crack. Wasn't there anything that could make her want to live for her own happiness in the few years of youth she had left?

A sudden inspiration came to Mayfair. "I've seen you and Deanna talking occasionally," she said in a conversational tone. "You appear to be the only one he talks to. Can you keep him near you, and be his friend?"

Natasha nodded. "Sure." She said it no differently than if Mayfair had asked her to inspect the knights' lances for damage. An obedient soldier, readily following another command from her general.

Mayfair sighed as she turned away. Well, at least she had provided Deanna with some friendship. The more comfortable he became here, the sooner he would open up to her and his fellow troops.

She walked on to Eric's post. "Eric, what a surprise! You're not fooling around today!"

"What do you mean?" he said as he came to attention, genuinely offended. "I always pay full attention when I'm on duty."

Mayfair offered him an encouraging smile, though it seemed doubtful that he was that much better behaved on guard duty than the rest of the time. "Just remember. Be alert and no fooling around!"

With a meaningful look at Eric, she returned to the front doors. After checking over the troops one last time, she went back inside.

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Natasha was enjoying guard duty. With the increase in their ranks, more of the soldiers could take breaks at a time, leaving her companions more fresh and ready than they'd been in the past. The boys under her command had been slowly shaping up over the past few days; they were still disrespectful, but more and more they were following orders. Most importantly, in combat training they'd all vastly improved, both in individual skills and teamwork. She no longer felt worried that an attack from Iom could overwhelm them.

Castle Cypress was becoming a fortress for His Majesty to be proud of. When he returned home, she knew he would be stunned at how much more solid the castle's defenses were. And when Mayfair told him who'd spearheaded this change...

She was just beginning to daydream of Prince Nick surprising her with a roomful of flowers as a prelude to asking her hand in marriage, when voices from a few hundred meters off encroached on her thoughts.

"Hey, Deanna, come join us."

It sounded like Jaha, a dwarf in her squad. But his post was on the other side of Castle Cypress... Natasha quickly looked across the moat to Deanna.

"What?" Deanna said, startled. He began backing away, a mildly frightened expression on his face.

Dawn came to stand near Deanna. "Don't tempt him. You're not a good influence." She gave a proud toss of her head and said with contempt, "Unlike you, Deanna is taking his guard duty seriously."

Suspicions popped open in Natasha's mind. She ran in the direction of the first voice, hoping to the gods that she was wrong.

But sure enough, as she rounded the pillars beside the doors of Castle Cypress there were Jaha and Luke, standing with Eric. "Leave us alone, Dawn," Luke was saying. "We're only having some fun."

"I knew it!" Natasha howled, making the lot of them jump. "You've left your posts! Despicable!"

Jaha quickly hid behind Luke's fat legs. The monk remained nonchalant as he said, "Relax. Nothing is going to happen anyway."

"Are you joking - or are you really that stupid!? Deanna was nearly killed less than a mile from here! Or maybe you think that Castle Cypress won't be a very tempting target for Iom!? General Mayfair told us that beloved Cypress depends on us being ready at that hour, in that place where Cypress is threatened." She could barely hold in the tears of her rage and frustration, but she knew that if she started crying, any control she had over them would be lost. "This is the hour... this is the place. And yet you're away from your post! How could you let us down like this!? Me... Prince Nick... Cypress!!! How?"

Luke hopelessly rubbed a hand over his bald plate, his eyes focused on his toes. "Uh... Well, um..." Behind him, Jaha had pulled the pot he wore on his head over his face.

"Get back to your posts! NOW!!!"

They seemed ready to obey, so she turned on their centaur companion. "As for you, Eric, if you want to show that you really have the blood of royalty, then you sh -"

Her bit of advice was cut off by a sound not unlike the earth cracking open. Natasha actually stumbled from the impact of it. The sight of the sound's source nearly made her stagger.

The outer walls of Castle Cypress were broken in two places, at the East and West ramparts. Behind the gaping holes were squads of goblin troops carrying battering rams. Their uniforms bore the insignia of Iom. "The enemy! Everyone to their positions!" she ordered, moving quickly to take her own.

In a few moments, all of the guards within hearing range were at the ready. Aside from Natasha herself, there were five: Dawn, Eric, Jaha, Luke, and Deanna. She quickly asked her friend, "Dawn, how many do you see?"

"Eight, at least."

"We're outnumbered," she observed. "So let's not take any risks. Back to the bridge!"

The others quickly followed her lead. "Natasha, you're not having us retreat, are you?" Dawn asked in a concerned tone.

"Never! They'll reach this castle over my dead body. I just want to lure them into a narrow spot. Wait for it, everyone..." She took up a position just close enough to the bridge so that her magic could reach it.

Suddenly she frowned. "Wait. There's not enough room here for all of us to attack at once; we'll end up hitting each other. Jaha, Eric... you guys go across. We'll get them in a pincher attack."

The two rushed across, taking up posts on opposite sides of the bridge. "First strike!" Eric cried, thrusting his spear into a goblin that came too near. It backed away from him, clutching its deep wound.

Natasha silently cheered... until she noticed the enemy's movements. They were no longer heading for the bridge; they were moving to gang up on Jaha. "Everyone, back across!"

As it turned out, Jaha didn't need the help. Hearing Natasha's cry, he lifted his shield and took up a dwarven defensive stance, the usual position which relied upon the simple observation that a dwarf has the strength and size to wield a shield that can cover nearly all of his body. The goblin's blows rained uselessly against his blocks.

"Make way!" Luke pummeled one of the goblins attacking Jaha, while Natasha finished the one Eric had wounded with a blow from her staff; such creatures were not worth using magic on.

As Jaha finished another goblin, the two which had entered from the east stupidly rushed in to continue what their partners had been doing. Jaha swung his shield about to stop their strikes. He grinned at his companions behind him. "This is kind of fun."

Natasha was unamused. The enemy at the west end was still far off, but closing in. "Deanna," she ordered, "...get over here. You can break up that mini-swarm fastest. ...Deanna?"

He failed to appear, and there was no time to waste. One of the goblins had already taken on a nick from a spear thrust by Dawn; Natasha took aim and shouted, "Blaze!" The goblin burst into flames, and collapsed dead after a few seconds. Her study of combat magic had paid off. Luke and Jaha quickly moved to finish the other goblin.

Now she focused her full attention on the horde from the west. Three of them were in sight. "Eric, Jaha, head them off! Dawn, Deanna, and I will move in immediately after you. Luke, stay ready to heal anyone who gets seriously hurt."

The two ran to stop the enemy's advance towards Castle Cypress. The enemy hesitated at their approach, when suddenly a lizard creature burst from behind some bushes, gestured at Jaha, and screeched, "Blaze!" The dwarf fell to the ground with a scream. He'd taken a few nicks in his skirmish with the goblins, and the flames licked greedily at his torn flesh.

"JAHA! No!" Natasha cried. Gritting her teeth in determination, she said, "Dawn, let's finish this!"

There was no more time for strategy. Natasha unleashed her blaze magic on a man-rat in the group, while Dawn took down the remaining goblin. Seeing that Eric had taken a couple of wounds from the enemy, Luke rushed in to heal him. In a few seconds the high-born centaur was whole again, and rushing to take down the remaining foe: the lizard-man.

"Sssssypress filth!" the creature snarled contemptuously at him.

"You're a fool not to respect your betters, street scum! The blood of royalty flows in my veins!" With a proud lift of his head, he aimed his spear and made a flawless thrust directly into the beast's left eye.

The lizard-man howled in agony and grabbed the spear. With one mighty pull, he yanked Eric off-balance and onto the ground. Squinting through his remaining eye, he lifted a hand axe and moved to sever the centaur's head.

His plan was brought to immediate halt by a pair of harsh blows to the head. Natasha and Dawn stepped over his corpse, the former breathing heavily as she clutched her staff. "Magnificently done, Eric," she commended him. "But next time someone stronger than you gets hold of your weapon, just let it go." She and Luke helped him to his feet, ignoring the sour looks he gave them.

"Ahhh! Thief!"

They all quickly looked to the source of the scream; it was coming from Cypress castle. Mayfair suddenly came running out the front entrance. "Thief! The Sword of Hajya has been stolen. It must be one of Iom's agents!"

"A ruse!" Natasha swore, running toward Mayfair. "The thief - which way did he...?"

Turning her head to look around, Mayfair shouted, "Look! There!"

Running towards the ramparts at the rear of the castle was a lone centaur. He had nowhere to run; Natasha and the others had unintentionally cut off his escape route by covering the break in the western rampart. "We've got him!" Natasha cried, and they all set off in chase.

Taking a look behind him, the thief blanched and pulled forth the Sword of Cypress. Instead of tossing it away, however, he hefted it, assumed a fighting stance, and charged the wall which blocked him in. To Natasha's astonishment, it crumbled before the Sword of Hajya. The thief bounded through the hole, and her heart sank. She slowed to a morose walk, then turned to look behind her. Now that the battle was over, she remembered that she had a fallen comrade.

"Don't stop!" Mayfair ordered. "After him!"

"But... Jaha..."

"I'll take care of him! Go! If the Iom army gets that sword, they'll use it against Prince Nick!"

That did it. Natasha sprinted for the hole in the wall, not even wasting the instant it would take to ensure that the others were following.

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Nearly half of Castle Cypress was set against a steep precipice. Not a cliff, but a high enough slope to discourage any attack. It had proved its worth again this time, restricting the enemy penetration to areas near the front of the castle. Its only drawback was that it could not discourage a thief with the Sword of Hajya from escaping through that area.

Natasha, Dawn, Eric, Luke, and Deanna came through the hole in the rear rampart to find the thief had already made his way down the precipice and was nowhere in sight. This made them hesitate but a moment.

In that moment, Mayfair and Jaha bounded out through the hole to join them. Natasha gasped in astonishment; the deep-fried dwarf was looking good as new, excepting only the ashes littering his armor.

Jaha grinned at her incredulity. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: There ain't nothing General Mayfair can't do."

"Look!" Mayfair cried, pointing. "There he is."

Indeed, now that she had pointed him out, the others could easily spot the thief on the opposite side of the stream that lay near the precipice. The thief had stopped to rest, but it took him only an instant to realize that he'd been seen. Mayfair shouted, "Hurry everyone! After that man!"

The drop was steep, but not treacherous. The seven of them hopped off the edge and slid down. Most managed this feat rather gracefully. Luke, however, landed flat on his face, while Deanna tumbled rather than slid down, ending in an upside-down heap.

"Wait a moment," a voice commanded, followed immediately by its owner stepping forth from the foliage. It was a dwarf, wearing the uniform of Iom. "If you're after Graham, I'm afraid you're out of luck. I'm afraid I can't let you go any further. My faithful followers. Attack!"

From behind trees and from out of dense patches of ferns they came, too many to count: goblins, lizardmen, and a pair of gigantic bats that the Iom troops could apparently control. Overwhelmed, Natasha gasped out, "Mayfair, what do we do?"

"That's up to you, Natasha. You're the leader."

"But I've already failed! Jaha -"

"You can't expect perfection on your first try. If I take over now, that one failure will rule you indefinitely."

"How can you just stand there," she cried angrily, "...while soldiers are coming to kill us?"

Mayfair met her eyes, and returned to her a look of assurance. "Because I know you can do this."

"Goblins on the starboard port, Natasha!" Luke announced.

She spun around to again face the enemy, her brain quickly taking hold of the situation. "Dawn, Eric, you can outreach and outmaneuver them; buzz them like flies! The rest of you wait for my signal, then charge!" Though her voice communicated confidence, inside she felt nearly overcome by anxiety. There were half a dozen of the goblins coming at them in formation; could they handle that many?

The centaurs swept in, riding circles around the enemy, occasionally darting their spears in for a strike. Natasha was pleased to see that they were exercising caution. "Charge!" she commanded.

Jaha and Luke moved in, with Deanna behind them. Deanna never got his chance; the lead duo mowed down everything in their way with axe and staff and fist. All that was left for him to attack was a pile of goblin corpses. Natasha was too focused on the battle to take note of it, but the back of her mind realized how strange it was that a man like Deanna had been outrun by a dwarf and a monk with sausage legs.

The enemy was quickly cleared from their side of the stream. "Eric, Jaha, take up positions on the bridge; Dawn and I will give you covering fire. We've reduced their numbers, but if they rush us now we'll be overwhelmed. Deanna, take Luke and make sure they don't come across the other bridge."

"On it," Jaha answered with a mock salute, then hopped off after Eric.

The giant bats were apparently not as firmly under the control of the Iomites as Natasha had guessed, for she could hear them cursing as the flying beasts abruptly swooped towards Eric and Jaha. She nodded with tentative satisfaction; the Iom troops couldn't risk assaulting the bridge with the two bats flapping wildly about, but how big of a problem the bats themselves were was yet to be seen. She stepped forward to use her flame spells, and Dawn followed suit by thrusting her spear at the bats.

Natasha winced as Jaha took a serious blow, one of the bats descending to tear at his back with its fangs. Eric speared it as it came within range. Dawn, seeing the other bat pass over the water, threw her spear at one of its wings. It tore a large rip in the flap, and the bat fell with a splash into the stream.

"We're taking them down but good," Eric said. "C'mon, let's get the rest!" Before Natasha could protest, Eric galloped across the bridge with Dawn and Jaha right behind him.

"Oh, well," she sighed. "Deanna, Luke, let's give them a h-"

The words froze in her mouth as she that one the enemy had indeed tried the other bridge; a pair of lizardmen were bearing down on Deanna and Luke.

Luke steadied himself, gripped his staff firmly, and waited. As soon one of the lizardmen came close enough, he spun his staff in an upward ark that lifted him off his feet and threw him into the stream. He failed to notice the other one slipping behind him for a strike, but fortunately Deanna was within easy reach.

What happened next made Natasha's blood run cold. Instead of cutting down the lizardman, Deanna stumbled backwards, out of its reach. The reptilian humanoid raised his axe and mercilessly slammed it into the back of Luke's head. The young monk fell to the earth, his skull an erupting volcano of blood.

Natasha screamed in horror. The lizardman ignored her, turning towards Deanna. Enraged beyond conscious thought, she gestured at the beast and cried out "Freeze!"

Ice particles formed over the lizardman, encrusting themselves in the spaces between his scales. Like any good lizard, the Iomite had no defense against the cold. His movements slowed; the axe slipped from his nerveless fingers. His mouth opened in a gasp, and he crumpled in a heap on the ground, his body twitching in final quivers.

Though Natasha had been studying the Freeze spell for some time, this was the first time she had successfully cast it. She wasted no more time with her surprise at this new feat of hers than she did with coaxing Deanna into action, but immediately raced across the stream to aid the others.

"Dawn," she called, "...get that goblin that's going for Eric's back! Stay away from the lizardman, Jaha; you can reach the vital spots of the goblins more easily!"

Natasha slammed into the fray, knocking a pair of goblins to the side. She smashed the skull of another with her staff. The enemy troops were disorganized, she realized; their numbers already significantly reduced and scattered by Dawn, Eric, and Jaha. As soon as she got close enough, she cast another freeze spell against the lizardman to send him curling into a frigid ball, making a mental note to herself on how useful the spell was against that ordinarily resilient race.

The enemy was going down fairly quickly, and after a few moments Natasha noticed that she didn't see their leader, the dwarf, anywhere.

On sudden intuition, she stooped down and looked to Eric and Dawn's legs. Sure enough, the Iom dwarf was pushing his way between his struggling subordinates to get within striking range of Dawn's legs. Being shorter than the rest of the fighters, Dawn had no way of seeing him from her height. He could permanently cripple her before she even knew he was there.

"Jaha!" Natasha called. "To your left - the dwarf!"

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It took Jaha but an instant to spot him. He immediately scrambled forward, hefting his axe at his fellow halfling. For his trouble, he took the blow meant for Dawn in his chest plate.

"Yowch!" Jaha yelped, hopping back a step. "Ain't like you can crack my armor, shrimp, but that didn't exactly tickle!"

"Shrimp!?" the other dwarf bellowed. "I may be short, but I can still crack your skull!"

To Jaha's great pleasure, the Iomite tried to do just that. Jaha raised his axe to deflect the blow and then, before his foe could recover, slammed it into an unprotected part of his torso. "Not if you announce your plan in advance, you can't," he muttered.

The dwarf coughed, blood spurting from his deep wound. "Kill you... kill..."

A hoof came down from above, crushing the wounded dwarf's head into the dirt. From the sky, Jaha heard a voice saying, "Any more bugs down there that need to be stepped on?"

Jaha scowled. "If all yer jokes are that funny, Dawn, do yourself a favor and stick to being the straight man. That kill was supposed to be mine!"

"What're you so upset about, Jaha? We won!"

Natasha glared at Dawn with quiet anger. "Jaha's right, Dawn. That joke was just sick. And you still haven't thanked him for saving you."

Dawn stared back at her in shock. "I -"

"Well done, everybody!" Mayfair interrupted, looking over each of them, except for Deanna, who was standing quietly behind her. "But, we've lost the thief."

Natasha shook her head sadly. "Right now I don't care about that. Luke..." She looked. He was still lying where he'd fallen. She felt her throat begin to close up. "Is... Is he...?"

"He'll survive. I was able to heal the critical damage and close up the wound a bit. But he'll need some rest."

She let out a huge breath of relief. "Thank the gods."

Without saying another word, she stepped forward, going around Mayfair. Furrowing her brow in puzzlement, Mayfair turned around just in time to see Natasha slam her staff against Deanna's collarbone. He cried out and fell to the ground.

"And no thanks to you!" Natasha screamed at Deanna's prone form. She raised her staff to hit him again. "You monster! You -"

Arms seized her from behind, hands clasping tight around her forearms to keep her from using her staff. She struggled to break free, though she knew in an instant that it was Mayfair who was holding her. As though from a great distance, she heard Deanna mutter in a small voice, "I'm sorry I failed you..."

"Natasha!" Dawn gasped, stepping forward. "What's gotten into you?"

"I saw him!" she shouted. "He had a chance to stop that Iom soldier that attacked Luke, and he backed away instead! He stood there and let him cut Luke down! I saw him, Dawn!"

"Natasha... Calm down; you're all excited from Luke getting hurt. I'm sure you misinterpreted what you saw. Mayfair, you must have seen it; tell her."

Natasha couldn't see her face, but Mayfair's voice was emotionless as she answered, "She saw correctly, Dawn." Her voice turned gentle as she pleaded to her, "Natasha, please. You're losing control of yourself, and I won't let you do something you'll regret later. Remember what we're doing. We must retrieve the Sword of Hajya, no matter what."

Slowly, her immobility and Mayfair's words brought Natasha back to herself. She relaxed in Mayfair's motherly grasp. Slowing her breathing, she whispered out, "I'm sorry, Mayfair."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, child." She released Natasha and stepped back from her. "But I shouldn't be calling you that anymore, should I? You're a warrior now."

Natasha shook her head. "I always want to be your child. ...But what do we do now? How can we get the Sword back?"

Mayfair considered a moment. "The Thames village is just ahead. We can gather information there."

She nodded. "Allright." However, she hesitated a moment. "Would you mind helping me get Luke onto Dawn's back? It'll take two humans to lift him up, and we're the only two here with the strength," she said, casting the briefest of glances at Deanna, who was still lying in the dirt.

Mayfair smiled. "Do you think such a task undignified for a general? Luckily, I don't."

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In short order, the group was on their way, Dawn bearing Luke on her back, with Natasha holding him steady with one hand. Eric walked on her left, while Jaha ambled along behind her. Mayfair smiled affectionately upon them.

"...Thanks for the save, Jaha. I'm sorry about that stupid joke, too; that wasn't like me at all. I was just so excited... to fight for Cypress..."

"Relax. I know what you mean. But I sure did want that Iom soldier."

"I'll let you have the next one."

"You guys are pretty darn bloodthirsty," Natasha put in.

"We kill them to save Cypress, Natasha. Is it so bad that I enjoy doing it?"

Mayfair wanted to listen to the rest, but she needed to speak to Deanna first. She was discouraged to see that he was still lying just as Natasha had laid him out, but she nonetheless managed to inject her words with some hopefulness.

"We're going to Thames now, Deanna. I know that we could use your strength there. If you can find that strength within yourself, the strength to fight for Cypress, then follow us there.

"If you can't, then I understand. I wouldn't want you to come with us if you don't feel you can help. If that is your choice, I would appreciate it if you told everyone back at Castle Cypress of what has happened." With that, she turned to follow after her protégés.

As always, Deanna had nothing to say.