"Ugh," Liam groaned, pulling a pillow over his head to block out the pounding on the door.

"You are so lazy," Olivia whispered, kissing him on the cheek before she rolled out of bed.

She pulled open the door to reveal Jon, who looked impeccable despite the hour.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Scanrans," he replied, grimacing slightly.

Olivia nodded. "I'll wake him up. The library?"

"Yes, thank you. I'm sorry to disturb you."

"It's fine, your majesty. I'm sorry for the news."

Jon nodded curtly before Olivia closed the door. She walked over to the bed and looked down at Liam, who had already fallen back to sleep. She sat down on the bed and reached out a hand to touch his hair.

"Wake up, Liam" she whispered. "Wake up."

"I don't want to."

Olivia smiled and pulled the pillow from his head. "Liam, you need to wake up. Your father wants to meet in the library. It's the Scanrans."

Liam sat straight up. "Scanrans? How bad is it?"

"He didn't say."

Liam nodded, but he didn't look at Olivia and his face stilled. He got out of the bed quickly, and began pulling on clothing.

"Liam?" Olivia called softly.

"We have less men trained for battle then we ever have in my father's lifetime. Those idiot lords convinced they were safe in their castles with Maggur gone and peace treaties with our other neighbors. Soldiers will die in droves due to their penny-pinching folly," Liam said angrily shoving his feet into his boots.

Olivia moved in front of him and put her hands on either side of his face. She looked up at him and saw the fear in his eyes. "There is only so much you can do, ohmi," she said, then kissed him gently.

Liam touched his forehead to hers and smiled slightly before striding quickly out of the room.

He arrived at the same time as Roald and his wife, Princess Shinkokami, both of whom looked more than a little disheveled. The sight of them brought a touch of smile to Liam's face despite the circumstance. Notincing his brother's look, Roald glanced at Shinko and then blushed as he pulled a piece of seaweed out of her hair.

When Roald opened the door, Jon said, "There you are. Finally. Sit down."

Liam, Roald and Shinko quickly took chairs in the library where all the Tortallan group besides Aly had already assembled. A large map of the border between Scanra and Tortall lay out on a table that had been dragged to the center of the room.

"Maggur's son has taken over his father's old throne," Jon said grimly. "He quietly organized his men and began a three pronged attack. He hit Trebond on the west end of the border, Fort Giantkiller towards the middle, and Fief Desemont on the east end of the border. Trebond is still under siege, but Fort Giantkiller and Fief Desemont were overrun. Some of the soldiers from Giantkiller made it to New Haven, where the town was able to turn back Scanran soldiers who went after them. Fief Desemont was completely pillaged, the walls brought down and the fields burned."

"Gods curse it," Liam growled. "Lord Desemont is such a fool. He was insistent that his walls could withstand any attack and that his people would turn on him if armed. How many of his people died because they had not the ability to defend the land they had tended for generations."

"Many," Jon said. "Lord Desemont paid as well. He survived, but one of his daughters has disappeared. Presumably, she was taken hostage by the Scanrans."

Liam clenched his jaw, but held on to his rage.

"Raoul, I want you to take Third Company to New Haven, gather the soldiers there and rebuild Giantkiller. Send Kel with Second Company to Trebond. They need the help. Once she turns the attack around, I want a new fort established here, a little east of Trebond. It's fairly clear Maggur plans to take this war along the full length of the border. We need more forts."

"I think perhaps we should send Third Company with Kel," Raoul interjected.

"She's capable of proving herself to soldiers quickly. I don't think she needs to be with the Company she knows."

"I agree, but there's no need to separate her from men she's comfortable with," Raoul said.

"Men or man?" Liam asked dryly.

Everyone in the room turned to look at him. "What do you know?" Alanna demanded.

"I know nothing," Liam replied. "Someone else made an observation to me, which lately seems to have some merit. I will say nothing else."

"Regardless," Jon interrupted, stopping the interrogation. "If that's what you think is best, Raoul, Second Company is with you and Third Company is with the Lady Knight."

"Liam, I want you to take the seventy soldiers, and go to Fief Desemont. You are in charge of rebuilding there. You will also help defend along the eastern end of the border as necessary. You'll have to recruit and train soldiers from the area," Jon said. "There should be former soldiers in the area from the previous war. Many settled down in the area. Hopefully, they will have continued some weapons training."

Liam nodded. "Who will be in command over me? Wyldon?"

Jon shook his head. "I'm sending him to Northwatch. You will be in command. Roald thinks it is time you began taking on your future role, and I agree. You're ready."

Liam nodded again, trying not to guess how many men he would be sending to their deaths as he listened and occasionally commented on the discussion of tactics. With only an hour to go until dawn, they finished the meeting.

"Sleep while you can, all of you," Jon said, looking at Liam. "Liam, your soldiers are coming from the South. They will be here in two days. You will leave with them on the third. The rest of us will sleep a few hours, and leave for Corus by noon bell tomorrow."

"Aly, do you want to come out and say good-bye to everyone?" George said.

One of the bookcases swung away from the wall, revealing a secret passage and Aly walked in, a playful smile on her face. "You only guessed that I was back there."

"It doesn't count as a guess if I'm right," George replied.

"Be careful, all of you," Aly said quietly, hugging her twin first before she moved on to the rest of the members of their close knit "family."

Liam looked around the room, watching them embrace and say their words of luck and good-bye, worms entering his stomach as he considered the possibility of losing any of them. Roald walked over to Liam and looked at his younger brother. "You are ready for this, Liam," he said quietly.

"I hope you're right," Liam replied.

"Say good-bye to everyone, then go back and spend these last two days with her. Memorize every happy moment. You'll need them in the coming months. I won't pretend what we've asked you to do won't be hard, but you were born to lead soldiers into battle. Remember when HaMinch went down while you were his squire? I thought the whole line was going to freeze from where I was watching on the ramparts, but you got them to move forward and keep fighting. You can do this, but you need her. Don't lose her."

Liam looked at his future King and smiled. "You're smarter than you let on aren't you."

Roald grinned and smacked his baby brother in the back of the head. "Get on with you, brat. Go say good-bye."

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