There was no time to relax before they were off again, farther west than either Lilina or Roy had ever gone. On the shore they parted ways with Cecilia and Guinevere, and ventured deeper into the western isles.

The western isles were beautiful and rich, with many different kinds of resources in some process of being stripped by the Elibean countries who claimed ownership of them. They were also, as Etruria's missive said, infested with bandits who interfered with those processes, and had the residents living in fear. Their job, impossible as it seemed, was to root out the bandits.

Roy had procured a map from somewhere, and had passable copies drawn up for the head of each group of soldiers. Not that the maps did much good. Fog hung heavy on the islands, and had since they arrived. The early morning sun failed completely to burn it off, and the mid-morning sun didn't even seem interested in trying.

"It's not a good situation," Roy said to Lilina, as if he needed to explain it.

"Three disadvantages for the price of one," she replied. "But if there are any mages, I'll know."

Originally the plan had been to split into groups and comb the islands one by one, but in fog like this that wasn't viable. Instead the groups remained close together, well within distance of easy finding if something went amiss. They were all on high alert, but the attack still took them by surprise.

There was a strangled shout from one of the other groups, then suddenly the air came alive with the sounds of battle.

Roy had Durandal already in hand when Lilina felt the tiny atmospheric changes that signaled magic at work. She shoved him roughly to the side and followed, seconds ahead of the lighting strike that would have killed either of them had it hit.

Roy looked at her.

She spoke before he could. "I'll take care of it. Mages can't hide in the fog, not from me."

"Be careful, Lilina," he said. "You're still my oldest friend and if anything happened to you…"

"And to you, the same," Lilina told him. And it was true. Despite everything that had happened, and everything that would assuredly happen in the future, Roy was still her friend. But this was a battle, and there was no time to linger.

She turned to say something similar to Sue, but Sue was already vanishing into the fog, a stray arrow held tightly in her hand.

Lilina shook her head, and moved to the south, where the magic was coming from. Another mage, a boy named Lugh, was headed in the same direction and they naturally drifted together, protecting one another as they tried to pinpoint the exact locations of the enemy mages. They had hardly spoken, but their magic was of a type, and so they could work together without needing to be bosom companions to do so.

Other fighters streamed past them, heedless of the magic. Mostly those were mercenaries, those who had chosen to remain in Roy's employ. Lilina couldn't concentrate on them, not on the ringing sound of steel on steel after a successful block, not the grunts and gasps of pain that heralded an unsuccessful one. She could not focus on imagining her retainers making those sounds, certainly not her friends making them. It was the magic that was important.

Suddenly, they got one.

"There!" Lugh whispered, unnecessarily.

Lilina was already readying a fire spell, letting it build under an even hand, until the moment the pressure could not be contained, and she could not hold it, and just before she lost control she flung it with all the force of her considerable will.

She couldn't see the mage, but she felt him die.

Sometimes Lilina had to wonder if magic wasn't a much more personal form of attack than a steel weapon, for all that it worked at a distance. But there was no time for philosophy.

Her attack had made them targets, even as the enemy mages had made targets of themselves. She and Lugh moved on to another hidden place, and went back to work.

Dodging, tracking, attacking, her focus narrowed to this small pattern. She did not realize how Bors trailed after them, determined to protect his lady from the very real threat of sharpened steel.

The enemy mages were no longer focusing on the rest of Roy's forces, spread out and hard to track as they were. It was usually this way, in a chaotic fight. Steel to steel, magic to magic. And magic took focus and concentration. Good fighters knew that, and good fighters would seek to take out a mage or two while they were distracted.

Lilina knew it too, but had forgotten in the initial heady cocktail of fear and exhilaration.

When the last mage was dead, she turned to speak to Lugh, and saw Bors out of the corner of her eye, guarding them both. His armor was scratched and dented, showing hard use. Some of the damage was old, but some of it was surely new.

Around them the battle still raged. The mages were dead, but regular soldiers were harder to find in the fog.

"Do you have energy left to fight?" she asked Lugh.

He nodded. "Some."

"Some," she repeated. In truth she felt the same. It was harder to fight other mages than otherwise. They took more power to kill, and in this situation, more effort to find. "I suppose we ought to go help the others. "Bors?"

"Yes, Lady Lilina?" he asked. He didn't look at her, but he continued to scan the surrounding area for immediate threats.

"Thank you for your help so far. May I continue to rely on your assistance?"

This time he did look at her, albeit briefly. "Always, my lady."

"Then it is time for use to join the fray anew."

"Of course, my lady."

The rest of the battle was a blur. It was thunder magic for regular soldiers, thunder that sparked and ran along their weapons and armor, finding vulnerable flesh that much more easily. Thunder, that bucked and convulsed in her hand, not nearly as tractable as fire – if any elemental force could be tractable.

There were bandits in plenty to find, and pirates coming from the outside. As if the western isles didn't have enough trouble already without importing more.

By the end, Lilina was no less tattered and torn than anyone who had been fighting more traditionally. The hem of her kirtle was ripped in places, stained with mud and blood and who knew what else, bits of hair were escaping the braid down her back, her hands shook slightly, and she was ravenously hungry. Magic was like that, sometimes. But she and Bors and Lugh had all survived, if somewhat worse for wear. They followed the sound of talking to see how their friends and comrades had fared.

Of the people they knew, they passed Sue first, separated a bit from the others and talking rapidly in Sacaen with a man Lilina didn't recognize. Lilina waved, and saw Sue's slow nod in return, but didn't interrupt the conversation.

Roy was also talking with someone Lilina didn't know – not that she knew every face on campaign, but it was a rather distinctive face – and with one of his knights. Noah, she thought his name was. Merlinus hovered by his shoulder trying to get his attention, but Roy only waved Noah and the girl away when he saw Lilina appearing out of the still pervasive fog.

"Well," Roy said with a cheeriness that he quite clearly didn't feel, "if all the bandits are this eager we won't have to spend very much time looking for them."

"Someone warned them we were coming," Lilina said. "Or they always operated under the assumption that someone would try to oust them eventually."

Roy frowned. "Better to assume the worst – that they were warned. At a time like this we can't afford to be careless."

"A recommended starting point would be to have meetings such as this in a more private establishment," Merlinus said, straightening his tunic. He, of course, had emerged from the battle looking as impeccably groomed as he had gone in. "Out in the open anyone could be listening."

"We're not staying here," Roy said. "Any messenger can't be that much faster than us. Lilina, do you have enough energy left to send out a few flares? I'd like to get the troops reassembled as quickly as possible."

Lilina paused for a moment, but then nodded. "I think I can manage three, but no more, not without rest and lunch."

Roy nodded once. "That'll do. We can make camp once we're away from the battle site. Help the others gather here. I need to speak to Marcus."

Lilina and Merlinus shared a look.

"Where do you think we're going?" she asked.

He shrugged.