Fate of Three Nations Hang
"On such small details do the fates of nations often hang."-Phillip Catcher, Great Gambles of the Civil War
The four Ravenclaw men bore the unconscious healer into the cave, as Mina unfolded a cot for Helga.
"She's cold as ice," Mina said, feeling Helga's neck for a pulse.
"Men, get a fire going at the mouth of this cave," Madea yelled. "We need to warm her up. It's our only chance."
Within minutes a roaring fire was blazing just outside the cave, defying the efforts of the light snow and the cold wind to put it out. Moving the healer next to the fire, Madea undressed Helga from her wet dress. She tended to the frostbite on her hands and the small wounds and cuts on her body before wrapping Helga in a sheepskin sheet.
"Okay," Madea said. "We'll need to rotate her blankets every thirty minutes. She is unable to produce her own heat, we'll be the heat for her."
Mina went outside.
"Dolag, ensure that no men enter the cave for now," she told him. She was sure that in Helga's current state of undress, it was better that way.
"Yes," Dolag said, stationing himself before the fire.
Mina and Madea spent the next six hours warming blankets beside the fire, changing them every thirty minutes.
"Is it working?" Madea asked.
Mina felt Helga's neck.
"Let's work the blood through her system to spread the heat around," she said. "I'm still not sastified with how warm she is. Get more women in here. I'm worn out. We'll need all the help we can get."
Madea left to get more women from the tribe.
Twenty four hours later, hope was dwindling.
"...go to the forest..." Rowena muttered.
Mina breathed a sigh of relief, forcing back an urge to use Silencio. The Princess had already divulged some info that could land both of them in hot water; what else might she say? She left Rowena's room to visit Helga, only to find everyone staring at her.
"What?"
"Only magic can save her now," Madea said. "I need you to use the Shock Spell."
"How'd you know about that? Will it work?" Mina asked Madea, while the six other women anxiously watched.
"It did once before."
Swallowing her reservations, Mina pulled out her wand and moved to Helga's bed pointing her wand directly at the healer's chest.
"THREE! TWO! ONE! GO!" Madea screamed.
Mina mumbled some words and a shot of red light erupted from her wand and struck Helga in the heart. Helga screamed in pain, jolting up in bed, eyes glazed to the ceiling of the cave. She slumped back against her pillows, falling into a deep sleep. Madea felt for a pulse, giving a visible sigh of relief when she felt the lifgiving force beating in Helga's neck.
"It worked," Mina said, amazed. "How'd you come across that?"
"One of my fellow healers showed me," Madea said, being vague. "I really can't tell you. Don't worry about your magic either, we don't care."
"Bad news," a woman said, rushing into the room. "Rowena is getting worse. I don't think she'll live more than a few more hours."
"We'll have to wake Helga," Mina concluded. "She's our only hope. Give her an hour to rest."
One hour later...
"She's WHAT?!"
"Easy Helga," Mina said, holding out Helga's bag then men had recovered along with her. "You're still too weak to move on your own. We'll carry you there."
"Come on, what are we waiting for?"
The women carried Helga into the room Rowena was staying in.
"Oh no," Helga said, her eyes glazed over with panic as she surveyed Rowena's body. "She has a major blood infection and will die if I don't treat her. Mina, get the green bottle in my bag."
"Green, which one?" Mina said, throwing open Helga's bag and finding twenty green bottles. "This one?"
"No."
"Which one?!"
"The one in the middle!"
"This one?"
"Yes, that one," Helga said. "Force it down her throat."
Madea did as Helga directed.
"That will cleanse her body of the infection," Helga said. "Keep Rowena warm and..."
Helga's head slumped onto her chest.
"Helga, Helga, come on, not now!" Mina shouted out of sheer frustration, shaking the poor Welsh healer.
"Do you think that will be enough?" Madea asked Mina.
"I hope so."
The potion worked wonders, amazing everyone. Rowena's fever broke, the infection disappeared, and her skin tone returned to normal. By the first week of February, she was awake and alert and receiving visitors.
"Dolag, no more else for today, I need sleep," Rowena pronounced, barely able to sit up as it where.
"Not quite yet princess, we caught spies," Dolag said, as four men came in holding two others with brown bags over their faces.
Two men were thrust on the ground in front of her and the bags were thrust off of their heads.
"This is some welcome Rowena," said a red-haired, burly Saxon with a lion emblem on his chest.
"Seriously Princess, you really need to rethink protocol for greeting visitors," the thinner of the two said with greasy black hair.
"Who are these men?" Dolag demanded, not having understrood a word of they just said.
The Princess laughed, getting angry looks from her friends.
"Who are they? Dolag, you just caught our ally Sir Godric Gryffindor, and his friend Salazar Slytherin. Without them, I wouldn't be here. Loose their bands now."
Dolag immediately obeyed upon hearing the words 'Sir Godric Gryffindor'.
"My apologies," he said, bowing deeply.
Rowena translated for him.
"Are your people safe?" Rowena asked Godric.
"Yes, we got them to Angelesy then came back," Godric said. "Salazar, though has come up with a brilliant idea to defeat Morgana and her hordes."
"Really?" Rowena said, intriqued. She turned to her increasingly deseparate chief commander, who was growing more anxious with each word spoken he could not understand. "Dolag, Sir Godric gave all of us refuge, but it turns out the same who attacked us also attacked them too. Salazar, can you do that translation spell you used back at the dinner."
"Sure," Salazar said, pointing his wand at his and Godric, and Dolag's throats in quick sucession.
"Who?", Dolag demanded. Like everyone else, he'd lost many friends in the raid. "We must take vengeance at once."
Rowena sighed; she'd been fearing this ever since she'd run into her people. Vegeanance was part of a warrior's code, but she had been debating how she could halt it until they could get enough men to take on Morgana.
"Okay, sit down, this will take awhile," Rowena told him, resigned to the worse. The entire tale took about twenty minutes to explain, with some parts left out.
"Oh, so it was a wizarding/non-magic attack," Dolag said. "So this Morgana might be behind the sacking of our clan. We have to take revenge on her. What are we hating for? We must march at once to kill her."
"Hold it right there Dolag," Rowena said in Gaelic, knowing she'd have to phrase her next words carefully to avoid the image of cowardice. "While I share your sentiments, I've battled Morgana. She had a huge army and is very powerful. When we take her down, it will be later, not now. Remember, part of the warrior's code is patience. I'm asking you to exercise it now."
Dolag nodded; even the bravest warriors would shun overwhelming odds at least intially to ensure the greatest chance of success. Rowena turned to Sir Godric.
"What is Salazar's plan?"
"We need William of Normandy," Salazar responded.
"What?!"
Salazar brought her up to speed on their last meeting with William.
"That man is a power hungry tyrant," Rowena retorted. "You want to ask for his help?! What do you think he'll ask for in return?!"
"He's on his way here."
"We can do it without them!" Dolag shouted in Gaelic.
"Rowena, please," Sir Godric pleaded. "Just hear him out."
"Fine," the Princess relented. "Dolag, the men need training. Could you please begin drilling the men?"
"Yes Princess," Dolag said, leaving the tent, still muttering mutinously. Rowena wondered how she could mollify his concerns. She was still weak, and the hold on her people not established yet. She'd have to tread carefully for now.
"When does he arrive?"
"Tomorrow at dawn," Salazar responded.
Word spread like wildfire through the Ravenclaw camp. The arrival of two Saxon noblemen hadn't gone unnoticed and whispers were flying about. The Princess moved quickly to end the rumors, tellling the rest of her four hundred or so people it was Sir Godric Gryffindor and some of his retainers, along with the news that more would be arrving to discuss the upcoming campaign to retake their homeland.
In bed that night, the Princess didn't sleep at all. She laid awake, staring at the roof of the small cavern, her warrior façade gone again. She shook, not from anger or grief, but fear. Rowena got up and paced, her mind racing at a dizzing speed.
What do I do, I'm stuck with a title I don't want, and no way out.
With that though lodged in her brain, she settled back into her blankets, her head between her hands. Suddenly, she jolted up, a sudden idea popping in her brain.
What if my brothers are still alive?
Somewhat comforted, she got back into bed and fell into an uneasy sleep.
At dawn the next day, William arrived with the same company that had accompanied him to Godric's Hollow. Along with Sir Godric and Salazar, they went to the small cavern where Rowena was recovering. Her newly appointed maids directed by Mina cleared the cave, leaving chairs for each of them.
Now present in the small cavern now was the Duke, now King William of Angeland and Normandy, Sir Godric Gryffindor, Princess Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, and Sir Harold, one of William's allies from Ireland.
"We'll, we're here to decide the fate of the our kingdoms," King William said, opening the meeting. "We all know the threat we face. It extends to Wales, Scottia, and Normandy now."
"How should we tackle it?" Sir Harold asked. "It's a wide area to cover. As far as I can see, she had operatives everywhere. My men recently captured several of her men operating along the coast."
"Worse news," William said. "There is a impersonator of me in London right now."
"What do you mean?" Helga queried.
"An imposter on the throne. Whoever it is controls my forces right now. I have to go and set it right."
"What about Normandy?" Godric inquired.
"My wife Matilda is in firm control over there right now, she has a strong cadre of Norman wizards protecting her, but I have to leave a lot of troops there."
"How many do you have available?"
"Those that are loyal to me, 2,500 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, the other 4,000 are scattered over Angeland right now. It will take time to gather them."
Sir Godric turned to the Princess still lying in her bed.
"Princess, how many warriors?"
"Fifty here in camp, who knows how many are scattered about the isles," Princess Rowena answered.
Mina beamed like the rising sun behind her mistress, proud of the girl she had raised.
"However, will they anwser to a woman? I don't know."
Mina's euphoria faded just as quickly as it risen.
"Things look dark," Sir Godric said. "But we cannot lose hope. Morgana can be defeated. We just need to know how. I'm not sure what to do."
Nobody said anything for awhile, a hopeless gloom enveloping the meeting. Salazar waited, delicately turning his proposal around in his mind, unsure of how to share it. When the tension got to great, he carefully made his pitch.
"We use time," Salazar suddenly said.
"Use time how?" William interjected, confused as anyone.
"The longer Morgana has control, the more confident she is going to get right?"
"I disagree," the Princess interjected, rather weakly. Rowena could feel herself fading again. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stay awake. "The longer she's in power, the more strong she'll become."
"That's what I'm banking on," Salazar said. "She'll become complacent. Meanwhile, Rowena, gather your people together. William, gather your army. Godric, raise your levies in the West Country. We're going to need every man to take this hag down. Myself, I'll get all the weapons we'll need, magical and otherwise."
"Hmm," William said. "It's a start. But we'll need refine it furthur..."
A thud attracted everyone's attention. Rowena had fallen out of her bed, fast asleep on the ground. Mina and two others rushed in to rescue the sleepy Princess.
"Meeting is adjourned for now," William said. "Salazar, we'll implement your plan. It's the best we have. I'm going to London."
"We'll have to split up then," Salazar said. "I'll accompany you there, and see what's left of my business empire."
William raised an eyebrow.
"I sold weapons, but my sources tell me my business partners died at Hastings. We'll have to see what's left."
"I'll take my knights and head back to the Welsh border, raise what men I can there," Sir Godric said.
"I'll go with Rowena back to her people," Helga said, nodding towards her best friend. "I'll supervise her recovery and go from there."
"We'll leave first thing in the morning."
"In the meantime," Helga suggested. "I think we'll need to ingratiate ourselves with Rowena's people. I noticed they didn't seem too thrilled when I showed up."