Author's Note: Yes, this chapter is a bit shorter than my usual chapters. That's because I had to split this battle into two chapters, and it might even turn into three. I decided to separate them so I could go ahead and post something, though. The bright spot is that I'm already over halfway done with the next chapter following this one, so it shouldn't be much longer for it, too. Your patience is appreciated, as always.

Cover Art for the story is from the LexaRecovery tumblr. Stay strong together.

I do not own the television show "The 100" or make any claims upon it or its characters. Similarly, I do not own Frozen, its characters or any Disney characters or property. All these characters are used under the concept of Fair Use, and I make no profit or income from using any of them.

Our Fight Is Not Over

by Jo K.

Chapter 15: Let's Get Metaphysical

How can you tell me what to have and what to hold

If you never take the weight on your own

No one tells us what is hard and what is fair

But we will deliver once we know where to fall

We are made of our longest days

We are falling but not alone

We will take the best parts of ourselves and make them gold

We are made of our smallest thoughts

We are breathing and letting go

We will take the best parts of ourselves and make them gold

-CHVRCHES, "Make Them Gold"

—O—

—O—

"You asked for me, Aunt?" Echo asked as she entered the elaborate tent Nia used, stitched together from the hides of more bears than she wanted to think about.

The Azgeda queen turned to look at Echo, a broad but short gladius made of ice in her hand as she halted her conversation with the sorcerer Hans. No other weapons were strapped at her waist or slung across her back; now that she could instantly create her own tools of cold death with ice magic, Nia had foregone anything so mundane as wearing base instruments of wood and metal to defend herself. She was above that now, when she could conjure a spear to impale an enemy or a dagger to slit a traitor's throat, or even just freeze a victim solid with a bolt of pure cold.

Echo's heart instantly began to hammer as she considered the situation. She was too controlled in her actions to turn to look behind her for any guards to prevent her fleeing, but only barely so.

She hadn't expected her own aunt, her last living relative, to kill her right before this battle, but at this point she couldn't say it was a total surprise.

Nia was insane.

While the woman had always been ruthless and vicious, the mental trauma of dying and being resurrected along with the addition of godlike power had propelled the Azgeda queen fully into megalomania, and the insidious voice of the infernal sorcerer Hans whispering in her ear certainly hadn't helped matters.

Echo swallowed. If Nia was going to try to kill her, then she was going to fight, with no quarter given. She didn't move to draw her dagger yet, but she was acutely aware of its weight at her hip as Nia slowly walked toward her, her favorite sly grin on her face.

"Echo," the older woman said softly, iron inside the velvet tone of voice. "I have a job for you."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in, and then a moment more after that for her body to begin to relax. "O-Okay," she stammered, immediately hating herself for the verbal slip.

Nia smiled; with the opening of her hand, the icy weapon vanished in a flurry of snowflakes. "How go the preparations for battle?"

"Um, fine, I suppose," Echo managed to say, her voice still tight. "What little we're making, at least."

Echo had been quite vocal the previous day about the lack of tactics she had seen in Nia's plans for the upcoming battle. They were about to face Heda herself on the field of battle, and there had been less effort put into planning than even the skirmishes of the last few weeks. The Maunon Carl Emerson had been up to something, ordering around a small group of burly Azgeda men on the east side of the valley all day, but other than that it seemed like frighteningly little preparations had been made.

Nia just looked at her niece what what might have been fondness. "That's because the battle isn't going to be won on the ground in front of us," she said smugly.

Seeing the confused expression of the young blonde's face, Nia's smile grew even broader. "Come now, my dear niece, you certainly didn't think I'd be challenging the Heda with the most accomplished tactical mind in our history to a direct fight, did you?"

Echo blinked a few times. "W-Well, you... have the magic now," she offered. "And you have your wizard."

Hans smiled proudly. He had learned to ignore what others thought of him several years and many murders ago, but the fear that rolled off Echo whenever she was around him was so delicious that he couldn't resist savoring it.

"Yes, my magic will likely be enough to defeat Lexa's forces soundly," Nia said, lifting her hand and conjuring a spear made entirely of ice; she admired it for a few seconds before it vanished into a flurry of snowflakes. "But, as my adviser keeps telling me, it is foolish to overestimate any opponent."

Hans tipped his head forward slightly. "Indeed," he said calmly.

A frost dagger appeared in the Azgeda Queen's right hand; Nia made a cursory inspection of the shimmering weapon before opening her hand and letting it vanish as well. "I have deliberately chosen this particular location to engage Lexa's forces. That's why I ordered our forces to gently slow their advance several days ago."

Echo stared at her aunt. "You want to fight her here?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay, so why?"

Nia's smile curled into the familiar sly smile that used to fill Echo with delight. Now that expression on her aunt's lips curdled Echo's insides. "There is an underground passage along the west side of the valley, through the mountain that makes up the natural boundary of these fields. It's tiny, only large enough for a small force of warriors to pass though without armor. But it emerges well behind the approach into the valley."

"Where Lexa has assembled her forces and their camp," Echo said. "On the plateau, where her flanks are protected by the mountains... except for the approach into the valley."

"Exactly. This battle is far too crucial for Lexa to trifle with, so she will have committed all her available warriors to stop me here, today, on the field of battle. And since Lexa herself will be personally leading her forces into battle, for I would expect no less of the mighty Heda, her camp will be minimally defended... as will her precious little blonde Skai girl, for Lexa will not risk losing another lover to my mercies."

Echo felt her stomach begin to clench deep inside. "So why are you telling me this, Aunt?" she asked quietly.

Nia stepped forward, carefully tucking a few of Echo's dark blonde hairs behind her ear. "Because, my dear Echo, you will be leading the group of assassins into Lexa's camp."

Echo's head began to pound and lights flashed behind her eyes as the enormity of the moment hit her. "ME?" she asked, stunned. "Wh-Why me?"

"Because you have proven your loyalty to me, time and again," Nia replied proudly. "Because you are my blood, my family. Because you are the only one I would trust a mission of this importance to."

Echo didn't register what else was said beyond that point. Eventually, after her aunt had stopped speaking in a silent dismissal, she turned and numbly walked out of Nia's tent. She needed to gather her things before one of the scouts came to lead her to the entrance to this tunnel. And before she gathered her things, she needed to think, to try to make sense of what she was about to do.

Was her aunt sending her on a suicide mission, to eliminate the last member of her family and thus the next in line for the Azgeda throne? Or was this truly a secret strike at Lexa's heart, the only vulnerable part of the formidable Heda? The ploy had worked years ago, halting Lexa's advance north and forcing a peace, and it would likely work again.

Or maybe, Echo thought grimly, Queen Nia hoped to accomplish both objectives at once.

—O—

Across the grassy plain of the valley floor between the two parallel mountain ranges, on the opposite side of the valley, a final war council had been convened.

The large tent that was currently home to Lexa and Clarke was crowded as the two of them, Elsa, Anna, Indra, Marcus Kane, Lincoln, Octavia and Harper were all gathered around the large planning table, a large map composed of satellite images joined together spread forth between them.

"The detail is incredible in these pictures," Lexa said, admiring the clarity of the map.

"Your eyes in the sky," Clarke said smugly, rubbing Lexa's bare shoulder. The tent was lit by several braziers, and the warmth of the flames combined with the number of people nearby more than offset the bitter chill outside.

The braziers also served to conceal that Lexa and Clarke both remained immune to the effects of the cold, something they had surreptitiously tested earlier that day. While they weren't certain if that immunity would extend to the magic Nia wielded directly, it did keep them from feeling the same chill the others in the Coalition forces had noted, so that was most definitely a good sign.

Elsa felt the cold in the valley was surprisingly natural, at least for now, but she could register the presence of Nia's tainted magic across the valley, adding that there was a distinct taint to its resonance that made her nauseous. Well, more nauseous than usual, at least, given her pregnancy.

"The Azgeda forces outnumber us significantly," Indra said, "but they fight on foot. They are powerful but slow, and they show no mercy."

"Nia's arrogance, increased along with her newfound power, will be her main weakness," Lexa said. "The Azgeda do not fight well on horseback. In the battles over the last two weeks, Nia has used her magic to freeze the ground, making cavalry unworkable in each skirmish. This time, however, she will find that trick no longer works."

"We hope," Harper said quietly, but her voice still carried through the silence. "I'm sorry, you two," Harper said, looking up at Elsa and Anna, "but I just can't put much trust in something I didn't know existed until a few days ago, especially with your magic being weaker here."

"I can tie up Nia's powers," Elsa said calmly, showing no outward sign of irritation; Anna was doing enough of that for both of them, anyway, giving their young friend a pointed look. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I doubt she's learned in a handful of weeks."

"The invisible dye Wick and Raven created has already been applied to the armor that will be worn for all our forces," Clarke said. "We'll make sure it's added to everyone's war paint as well. That way our gunners will be able to tell our forces apart from Nia's." Clarke frowned. "Well, unless she's told her warriors to put on anything they take off of our warriors that are killed."

"Nia has used her forces changing armor and clothing in battle before," Lexa said. "In the past, it allowed some of her troops to move close enough to assassinate opposing officers and capture critical targets."

Clarke sighed. "So we need to be watching for that as well. Great."

Marcus Kane stepped forward, waving his right hand over the small wooden tokens used to designate the Coalition forces. "I have some ideas for fields of fire planned out for the battle tomorrow. Our gunners will be most efficient and most deadly when the two forces approach each other, before the scrum that will develop once the hand-to-hand fighting begins. We should be able to reduce Nia's forces considerably by the time they're in melee range."

"We will not begin with a fusillade of gunfire into Nia's forces," Lexa said flatly.

"Commander—" Kane began, only to be cut off by Lexa's head turning quickly to glare at him.

"It is MY prerogative as Heda to choose the plan of battle, Markus Kane kom Skaikru," the brunette said firmly, heat audible in her voice. She held his surprised gaze for several seconds as the air in the spacious tent thickened with sudden tension.

"Not all of those in Nia's forces are there of their own free will," Lexa finally spoke, her voice calmer. "And knowing her cruelty and her pragmatism, Nia will almost certainly place her conscripted warriors in the front lines, so that they will bear the heaviest brunt of casualties, while saving her Azgeda to only engage us after the tribes from which she holds hostages have whittled away at our numbers."

"But you rescued the hostages," Octavia said, a bit confused.

"Yes," Lexa answered, "but it is most likely that no one, not even Nia, knows of that. Coldspire is isolated for months when the freeze sets in, with no one able to enter or leave." A sly smile crossed Lexa's lips. "Well, under normal circumstances."

Anna grinned as Elsa turned and smiled at her. "We're definitely not normal," the redheaded queen said happily.

"No, you are not," Lexa said proudly, giving her newest friends a grateful smile. "None of us are. And never before has a fighting force such as ours taken the field of battle."

"Most of those with guns will be deployed singly, in units with Coalition warriors," Lexa said, looking to Kane again. "That way their shots will be precise and aimed only at the proper targets. They will be protected by the warriors with them, I swear to you." Lexa stepped closer to Marcus, taking her time so as not to appear threatening.

"The lives of Skaikru are every bit as important to me as Trikru," Lexa said confidently, meeting and holding Kane's eyes. "When the Coalition takes the field, we fight as one clan. On that field between us and the Azgeda, there will be no Skaikru, no Trikru. There will be only the Kongeda, the Coalition... and part of that Coalition has been pressed into Nia's army. If there is a chance for us to save them, then we will try. But if there is no chance, then we will end their fights with the honor they deserve."

The brunette held Kane's gaze for several seconds before the older man smiled and nodded deferentially. "So do you have a plan to save them?" asked Kane.

Rather than answer, Lexa held his gaze for a few long seconds, then turned around and walked back to her previous position around the large planning map.

"Lexa always has a plan," Clarke said proudly. "You just normally can't see it coming until it smacks you in the face."

Lexa glanced sideways at Clarke and actually grinned a sly grin at the blonde. "Don't give away all of my secrets, my wife," she said softly but loudly enough for everyone to hear, drawing laughter from many of those around the planning table.

"The sorcerer remains the wild card," said Indra. "His—or her—magic is something we know very little about, and that is never good in warfare."

"I really wish Raven had been able to make us some more explosives," Clarke said. "But Mom was adamant about not letting her exert herself until she had fully recovered from the neural feedback from that virtual bitch ALIE."

Clarke hadn't shared the full details of the conflict between ALIE and BECA with anyone other than Lexa, Anna, Elsa and her mother, and she had only reluctantly included her mother in that number because of Raven's ongoing headaches and muscle spasms. BECA had reassured Clarke that Raven would recover fully, but the degree of control ALIE had imposed upon Raven—and the fury with which Raven had fought back— had temporarily overwhelmed the neuromuscular junctions in the fierce woman's body and damaged many of the skeletal muscles in her body. She would recover, Abby reassured them, but she needed to rest and recuperate, and that meant no working with high explosives or anything requiring a delicate touch.

Octavia nodded. "Yeah, being able to hit them with a bomb or some grenades would've be nice."

"No doubt," Clarke echoed, nodding.

—O—

"So this is it," Clarke said, her voice with a hint of resignation but otherwise carefully neutral as she and Lexa looked out over the large plain below the plateau. The sun was low in the sky, and very soon dusk would be upon them, followed by night.

And then war would come with the dawn.

Lexa nodded. "This is where I had hoped to engage Nia's forces. I was afraid that with the speed of her advance over the last three weeks, she could have pushed past this valley and engaged us closer to Polis, where the terrain would have been much more difficult to plan for."

Clarke looked out at the small valley below them, bounded both left and right by mountain ridges. It was lower than the rise they were currently atop, but not by much. The grass was short and scrubby on the plain below, with very little in the way of larger vegetation. No rivers or streams were visible, but there was likely some runoff on at least one of the ridges, a creek or something similar, as the ground cover had some hints of green among the wheat-brown color of most of the grasses.

Clarke took a deep breath and sighed, exhaling slowly. "I've been thinking about what we discussed about last night," she said. "What you and me and Anna and Elsa talked about after the planning session ended."

Lexa turned to look at her houmon. "About Nia's magic?"

Clarke nodded. "The more I think about this, the more I think it's right. It just feels right, you know?"

"Feel is a vital component of magic," said a familiar voice behind them.

Lexa and Clarke turned to see Elsa and Anna drawing near, the two of them seated atop one of their crystalline white horses, Elsa in front, Anna behind, as they approached at a gentle pace. The two of them both had pleasant smiles on their faces, as if they weren't hours away from what was going to be a brutal, violent battle that would leave the floor of the valley below dark for weeks to come.

"Anna and I have also been discussing your thoughts on Nia's magic," Elsa said as she brought the horse to a stop beside Lexa and Clarke. The two flesh-and-blood steeds nickered softly at the new arrival, who flicked his ears and whinnied softly in reply. "While I can't definitively say your theory's correct, it absolutely makes sense."

Anna leaned to the side slightly to better peer around Elsa's shoulder. "I think you're absolutely right, and at the very least, it's worth a try," the redhead said, her copper hair hanging behind her in twin braids that swayed with the movement of her head. "I wish I could remember exactly what Maleficent said, though."

"I remember it clearly," Clarke said. "I guess it's because all the magic stuff was so new to me that it stuck in my mind, but she definitely said that the ritual the sorcerer or sorceress used to bring Nia back and give her magic was powered by the faith of her followers."

"And if that is true, weakening their faith in Nia should weaken her power," Lexa finished. "It certainly wouldn't hurt, demoralizing her troops during battle at the very least. But I don't want to risk your life, Clarke."

Clarke reached over and took Lexa's right hand. "Lexa, all our lives are at risk every day."

"You know what I mean, ai hodnes," Lexa said with a sigh. Were Clarke to take the field of battle, Nia would throw every single Azgeda warrior at her. Of that, Lexa was entirely certain.

Clarke nodded. "Yeah, I do, but you yourself told me that Wanheda has power. The idea of Wanheda has power." She smiled. "And what better use of that power that to put an end to Nia for good?"

Lexa smiled sadly. One of the qualities that made her an excellent Heda was the ability to know which battles needed to be fought, which battles needed to be won and which battles were lost before they began.

She knew which category this fell into.

Lexa looked into Clarke's blue eyes, so intent, so bright. "What are you thinking, my wife?"

—O—

Two hours after night fell, Anna stood atop the hill where the Coalition had assembled, watching the flickering of hundreds of campfires burning on the other side of the valley. She estimated the Azgeda numbers to be over ten thousand, all determined to kill her, Elsa and their allies.

She didn't like them very much.

And somewhere among those campfires would be Nia, who should be dead and certainly shouldn't have a dark copy of Elsa's powers, along with the gods-damned sorcerer who was to blame for this whole avalanche-in-the-middle-of-the-night of a mess.

She liked that sorcerer even less.

And when the time came, she was willing to leave Nia to Lexa and Clarke, but the sorcerer...

The sorcerer was going to die. And Anna was going to kill him. Or her.

It would be too risky for Elsa to try to do it, not here, not with her powers weakened. Not with their youngest child inside her, even if the sorcerer was also weakened by the increased difficulty of channeling magic here. Anna's own magic items worked just fine. A test again shortly before dusk had confirmed that. So likely any enchantments or magical artifacts the sorcerer had carried across worlds would also be as powerful as before. Especially that detestable, evil book.

Maleficent had warned Elsa, Anna, Clarke and Lexa not to touch the book directly if possible. She had also said that True Love's power would insulate the four of them against the book's corrupting nature, at least for a time, and that no one other than the four of them should carry the book once it was finally recovered, and even then it must be kept contained in a shell of Elsa's ice at all times until it could be returned to Arendelle, where Maleficent and Rose could once again work at containing it until they could discover the Codex's "polar opposite," whatever that may be, and destroy it forever.

The soft feel of arms slowly encircling her chest brought Anna out of her dark thoughts, making a smile of happiness spread across her freckled face.

"What are you pondering, my heart?" Elsa asked tenderly, her breath warm on Anna's right ear as she placed a light kiss on that spot. "You're thinking heavy thoughts."

Anna smiled, even though Elsa couldn't see it from her position. "What gave me away?" she asked softly.

"The fact that you're standing quietly by yourself," replied Elsa, more than a bit smugly.

"Ouch," Anna replied playfully. "Just thinking about tomorrow. And worried that Nia's going to try something tonight."

"You've seen the guard positions yourself, Anna. And even though my range with talking to the frost and snow here is limited, it will at least give us some warning if others are drawing close."

Anna sighed once, and even now, the soft frustration in that simple noise still make Elsa's heart ache slightly. "I just wish we could get this over with," Anna finally said.

"It's hard to dodge arrows and swords in the dark," Elsa said. "And the light your weapons give off would make you the best target on the entire battlefield, my heart."

Anna slowly turned in Elsa's grasp, because careful not to tug on anything of Elsa's. "I'd fight all of them for you," Anna said, staring into Elsa's bright blue eyes.

Elsa's smile nearly glowed on its own. "I know you would," she said simply. "I wish it was as simple as that." She hesitated before adding, "I wish that I could do more here."

"Elsa," Anna said patiently. "You are doing something important here. You're going to counter Nia's dark magic. And you're protecting our youngest child."

Elsa looked into Anna's eyes, a dark blue nearly the same as her own in this dim lighting, with only the barest hint of green visible currently. Not once had Elsa talked to Anna about how she was going to combat Nia's magic—mainly because she wasn't entirely sure herself. But she had several possible approaches, she had the ear of the cold itself, and between her experience and connection to the cold, she was going to find a way to neutralize Nia's greatest weapon.

And the utter confidence in Anna's eyes both empowered and awed Elsa at that moment.

There was no doubt in them. No second-guessing, no hesitation. Anna BELIEVED Elsa was going to defeat Nia's magic, with everything she had.

And Elsa would never let Anna down again.

"Let's go to bed," Anna said. "Tomorrow will be here soon enough, and I want to spend tonight with you."

Elsa felt her pace of her heart pick up, even skipping a tiny beat with excitement, at that statement from the woman she loved completely. "I can't think of anything better," she said happily.

—O—

"I don't know what to do, Harp," Monroe said, her voice strained with emotion.

The two of them lay in their tent, larger than most of the others and occupied only by the two of them, another silent sign of respect for Jusdonosir and her chosen mate. Harper held Monroe mostly atop her, the petite redhead clinging to Harper's slightly longer body desperately.

"What does your heart tell you to do, Zoe?" Harper asked softly, her lips gently pressing against Harper's left ear.

"My heart tells me to go with you," Monroe said, her voice an unlikely combination of a whisper and a moan. "To watch your back. But I can't pick up a gun again. I can't." She swallowed against her raw throat. "Just thinking about aiming a rifle at someone, at pulling the—" She shivered as the words left her.

"Then you don't have to, babe," Harper said softly. "I know you don't want to kill anyone ever again. And I respect you for that. That's why I think it'd be best if you stayed back here, to help watch the battle and coordinate things until the wounded start coming in. Because as good as you've gotten with a bow and arrow and a knife, none of us from the Ark are as good as people who literally grew up fighting with swords and spears."

"Octavia is."

"Octavia is... Octavia. Even though she was born in space, she's always belonged on the Ground. She's one of them, and she fights like it." Harper lifted her left hand to gently cover Monroe's right cheek. "You have nothing to prove to me, Zoe, or to anyone else," Harper said firmly. "What happened that horrible night is done. It's in the past." Harper smiled as she looked into what she could see of Monroe's eyes in the darkness of their tent. "Leave it in the past. Because what we have is now, and what's to come. And that's all ours."

It grew quiet in the small tent, and for several minutes neither of the two young women spoke. When Harper felt her lover's chest tense and expand as Monroe drew in breath to speak, she already knew what the redhead was going to say, and it made her body flush with relief.

"I... I'm going to stay back here and work medical," Monroe said, her speech hesitant but finally confident.

Harper kissed her partner first on the forehead, then on her lips. "I'm proud of you," the blonde said warmly. "But then I would've been proud of you whichever choice you made."

—O—

Weakly lit by the light of the nearby campfire, Echo stood between the six Azgeda who had been assigned to her and the small crevice that served as the entrance to the underground passage. Out of consideration for any Coalition surveillance, they had stayed away from the small entrance to the passage through the mountainous ridge that loomed over them until dark.

"It will be our job to slip through this underground passage, using as little light as possible, slay any guards who might be present, and clear the way for the larger force that'll be following us," Echo said, looking around at each of the Azgeda who had been assigned to her. "We'll have to work quickly. Sound travels better than expected through the tunnel due to the rock reflecting voices. Once we've secured the exit on their side, then we can either wait for the full strike force to arrive or proceed toward their camp and identify targets of opportunity including, hopefully, Lexa's little bitch."

Nia had made it explicitly clear to Echo that Clarke was the primary target for this strike force, fifty strong. She was to be taken alive if possible, but if not, the Skai princess was to be slain brutally and savagely, leaving Lexa a visceral reminder, preferably in multiple pieces, of exactly what love had to offer in the end.

The hardened Azgeda warriors nodded at her words. A talkative group they were not. Smaller than usual for Azgeda warriors, the five men and three women that Echo was leading had been chosen for their small size, their stealth and their utter lack of remorse. So despite the second thoughts Echo had been harboring for days, she couldn't let any sign of doubt show at this point.

If Nia had ordered any of them to kill Echo once their job was done, Echo thought grimly, she'd never see or hear the knife coming until it was too late.

"Okay, get some sleep for a few hours, then we'll strike once everyone has had a chance to rest," she said. Their forces had only arrived earlier that day, and with Nia wanting to attack shortly after sunrise tomorrow, there would be precious little time for rest. "Raina, you'll have first watch, in case they've already found the cave and are going to try what we're doing. I'll take second watch after two hours, then Varius will have last watch. After that, we start our approach. The cave has already been explored and marked, but it's still going to take some time for us to traverse."

Nodding without further discussion, the rest of Echo's team of assassins made their way into the small leather shelters to sleep, except for one.

"When does the rest of the strike team join us?" asked Willem, an assassin whose presence had always made Echo's skin crawl. Even now making eye contact with the small, wiry man made her uncomfortable.

"Shortly before sunrise," Echo replied, keeping her voice calm. "Queen Nia wants all of them inside the passage before dawn, to avoid tipping off the enemy, and we're to leave the passage after sunrise, so no torches or lanterns could give us away." She glanced over at the dark-haired man, immediately shifting her eyes away when his gaze flicked up to meet hers.

He had always given Echo the creeps. She hated it, but she also was wise enough to take it for the subconscious warning that it was. Willem had taken to the bloody rituals enacted by the sorcerer Hans with far too much enthusiasm for someone sane, and that had made Echo distrust him even more.

Which is likely which Nia had made sure to put him on her team. Because if she had planted someone with plans to kill her niece, who was now the undisputed heir to Nia's throne should something happen to the Azgeda Queen, Willem would have no trouble carrying out the deed.

With an unwelcome shiver, Echo returned her attention to the small fire in front of them, trying not to think about the next few hours.

—O—

Unlike the young blonde just a few feet away from him, the uneasy silence around them did not bring Willem any discomfort. It took some effort to keep a pleased smirk off his face the longer the silence held, save some soft snoring coming from inside two of the small shelters nearby. Finally, after nearly an hour, Echo shifted her body, standing up slowly.

"I have to relieve myself," the blonde woman said flatly. She felt her heart pick up speed at the displeased look on Willem's face.

"No one is to be left alone," the older man said. "On orders of the Queen."

"I know. I was there. But I have to relieve myself."

Willem looked up at Echo, nonplussed. "Then I'll have to go with you," he said, not bothering to keep a lewd smile from stretching across his face.

Echo felt her face burn with heat, both from fury and embarrassment. "That is not what my aunt meant!" she hissed, keeping her voice low.

"I disagree," replied the man, taking obvious delight in Echo's discomfort. "I'll stay at a reasonable distance," he said, an oily tone to his voice.

Echo was fuming. "No, don't bother," she hissed at him, practically stomping around the fire in front of the man until she was about five meters away from him. Still glaring at him, she untied her pants, pulled them and her underwear down in one quick motion, then squatted while still facing him. She wasn't sure whether she should gag or smirk as she watched delight and surprise battle across the older man's face while she urinated, but she was sure that for once she had seized the control in the uncomfortable dynamic between the two of them.

She defiantly maintained eye contact with Willem the whole time; she wiped with a cloth she had pulled from her pocket, then stood back up, taking her time to pull her underwear back up, then her pants. Now the revulsion she had been suppressing made itself known as she saw a leer spread across his thin lips while she tied her pants once more.

She walked back over toward the repulsive man, taking a glance at the small shelters, which were as still as the night sky.

"That was quite a little show," Willem said, his voice low and tight, a grin huge on his face as he turned to look at the fire as Echo walked behind him. "We've got some time if y—"

The searing pain of a knife's blade violently slashing his throat, trachea, carotid arteries and jugular veins open, nearly decapitating him in the process, abruptly stopped his words, leaving him wetly gasping like a fish plucked from a river. Echo glared at him with disgust as she watched him slowly topple to the side; she partly caught him on the way down, so his body wouldn't impact the ground hard enough to wake anyone inside the shelters. He convulsed weakly a few times as she laid him dying in the dirt, a puddle of blood already forming in the dirt and grass beneath him.

She took one more worried glance at the shelters as she grabbed a small lantern provided by the Maunon Carl Emerson, but still there were no signs of anyone moving inside them. She shivered as she touched the artifact from the place where she had very nearly died, but it was necessary if her desperate plan was going to work. She checked the knife at her belt and the one on her leg, then she hurried to the fissure leading to the underground passageway.

She had chosen the wrong side. She knew that now. She could only hope there might still be time to undo the evil she had helped unleash, and the sore knowledge that it would likely cost Echo her life no longer bothered her.

—O—

Even though Elsa's enchantment kept the bitterness of the cold from causing pain, Clarke could feel the distinct drop in temperature when she exited the large tent she and Lexa had shared into the darkness just before dawn. The sun's rays were already tinting the grey-black sky a soft pink to her right as Clarke felt the chill breeze blow through her blonde hair.

"It's started, hasn't it?" she asked Octavia, who was standing just outside the tent's door, wrapped in a blanket over the coat and thick pants she was wearing.

The raven-haired girl nodded, the expression on her face solemn. "They're already halfway across the valley. They must have started under cover of darkness."

"Where's Lexa?" Clarke asked, zipping up her jacket.

"Already giving last minute directions to the unit captains," Octavia replied, shivering once. "It isn't the best sign that it's already this cold, is it?"

Clarke tried not to think about that too much, with no success. "Are Elsa and Anna awake yet?"

"They're getting ready. I seriously hope she can do something to stop Nia. It's already painfully cold. The ground's going to freeze before much longer."

Clarke glanced at her friend before returning her attention to the tent holding the Arendellan queens. "I have faith in Elsa. It's the rest of us who have to do our parts."

"Yeah, don't take the wrong way, Clarke, but I have more faith in Heda's part of the plan than yours. You're taking a huge risk—"

Clarke spun to face her friend, cutting off Octavia's words. "If I'm right, then we end Nia's magic, not just misdirect it or keep it at bay," she said, more harsh than she intended.

Octavia looked into Clarke's stormy blue eyes for several seconds before she spoke. "And if you're wrong, you're dead."

"Not necessarily."

"But most likely."

"If we don't do something to deal with Nia's magic, then we're all dead anyway. It's just a matter of time. And my plan is the best chance to take that away."

"IF you're right about her power coming from the faith her people have in her."

"Maleficent—that's one of our friends from the other world—was sure of it. She said that the runes we found at the big ritual near Arendelle had been designed to empower her with her followers' faith, as a way of getting around how weak magic was in this world."

"And she was sure of that?"

Clarke frowned at the skepticism she heard in her friend's voice. "Yes, O! And the woman's like over a hundred years old or something! Elsa and Anna said she and her wife were the two best experts on dark magic in their whole world."

A quirky expression flitted across Octavia's face. "Soooo let me get this straight. You hook up with Lexa, and the two of you travel to another world, survive certain death, ride dragons and party with royalty. Your friends Anna and Elsa, who are married to each other, don't age, have ice magic and can fly. "

"Well, they can't fly, I don't think, b—"

"AND Harper and Monroe start fucking, then Monroe comes back after dying from inhaling poison gas that kills everybody who breaths it. And Harper plots and triggers a successful mini-rebellion inside the guards and winds up on the Council. Oh, and she's a fucking god now." A smile kept threatening to break through Octavia's serious expression as she continued, "And now you're telling me that another lesbian couple in this other world are over a hundred years old and sorcerers themselves."

Clarke looked a bit uneasy. "Well, yeah..."

"And I bet they still look hot, too, right?"

"Well, kind of, Rose definitely, although Maleficent is pretty damn scary..."

Octavia looked Clarke intently in the eyes. "So if I ditch Lincoln and start hooking up with a girl, do I get super powers too?"

Clarke was completely dumbfounded. Her mouth was frozen in place partly open, and her expression was so ridiculously UN-Clarke, who normally had all her shit together, that it made Octavia start laughing a bit wildly.

"Fuck off, O," Clarke finally swore playfully, grinning. "That was good."

"You think I was joking?" Octavia asked, schooling her expression back into seriousness for a full second before sputtering again.

The sudden rushing of booted foot and leather creaking broke up the mirth; Clarke and Octavia both turned to see Lexa approaching, her warpaint encompassing her brilliant green eyes.

"Heda," Octavia spoke softly, lowering her head respectfully.

"Hey," Clarke said, smiling as she stepped forward, taking Lexa's right arm with her left. "Is everything ready?"

Lexa nodded. She looked at Clarke carefully for several seconds without speaking, her eyes taking in every aspect of Clarke's face, her lips, her eyes, her brow, her hair.

In case she never sees me alive again, Clarke thought, and for a brief moment she wanted to cast away all the plans they had ever made and just take Lexa and run, just the two of them.

But that was never a valid option for them, sadly.

"Ai hodnes," Lexa spoke softly, the words flowing from her lips as she smiled for Clarke.

Clarke smiled. "Ai hodnes," she replied warmly, lifting her right hand up to gently hold Lexa's cheek, being careful not to smudge her wife's inky warpaint. "I'll come back to you, Lexa," Clarke said tenderly. "I swear."

"The fiercest of Nia's schemes cannot hold a candle to the raging flames of your spirit, my wife. I have faith in you, in your power." Lexa leaned forward and met Clarke's lips for a soft kiss, holding it for two seconds before reluctantly pulling back. "Remember to fly your banner when you finally take the field," she told Clarke. "And let Octavia apply your paint. You still smudge your lines."

Clarke gasped slightly. "I do not!" she replied, only to stop short at the smile on Lexa's face.

"God, you got me too," Clarke groaned, leaning into Lexa, whose arms happily wrapped around Clarke, the hilt of her sword shifting out of the way as the two bodies pressed against each other. "We're about to go to war, and we're joking."

"That is because we are alive, Clarke," Lexa said patiently. "The day will be grim enough. I choose to not let that darkness encroach upon the time I have with you."

"Do you think they're going to turn?" Clarke asked, stepping back enough to look her mate in the eyes once more.

"I do," Lexa replied with a simple nod. "But I am prepared should they choose to fight against us." She ran the fingers of her right hair through Clarke's loose hair. "And yet I have the easy job today. I only have to defeat an army. You have to defeat an idea."

"Good thing I'm Wanheda, then, isn't it?" asked Clarke, grinning. "And what you do on the battlefield is a major part of this plan. You have to work your own magic."

Lexa turned and looked out over the dark green plain just below them. "The other Hedas are eager to begin," she said, scanning the arrangement of Nia's forces, nearly ten thousand strong. "It is an excellent day for battle."

"Tell them I said they have to keep you safe," said Clarke. "Our people need you. I need you."

—O—

"Do you want a stack of gauze with each table?" Monroe asked, busy laying out instruments and materials in the large tent that served as a field hospital.

Jackson looked up from examining the legs of one of the metal tables they had been able to salvage from what was left of Mt. Weather. "With each bed," he replied. "We need to be ready for the worst, and you're going to be helping with triage as much as with assisting me in the sterile tent. The healers will take care of the less-serious wounds and injuries, and I drafted a few people to assist them too."

"Trikru?" Monroe asked, curious about whom Jackson, who seemed to have fully recovered from his possession by ALIE, might have chosen to assist them.

"Not exactly," said a voice that was disturbingly familiar to Monroe.

She whirled around.

Bellamy Blake stood looking at her, emotions warring in his eyes and on his face. "Hey, Monroe," he said awkwardly.

Monroe just stared at him, open-mouthed, as her insides threatened to crawl out of her mouth and run away.

"They, uh, said they needed people who could help with transporting the wounded. I volunteered."

Monroe's eyes began to burn before she closed them tightly, forcing herself to remain calm, to keep control of her emotions.

She wasn't the angry woman who had begun to enjoy killing Grounders, not anymore. That woman had died in a cloud of yellow that had burned her airways and lungs with searing agony. And Monroe was happier than anyone that that angry, vicious woman was dead.

"I'm not..." Monroe said, hoarsely. "I'm not who I was. Not anymore."

"No," Bellamy agreed, taking a few tentative steps forward. "You're who you are now, and I'm happy for you. I'm glad you and Harper have each other. You make a solid couple. You take care of each other."

You used to take care of me too, Monroe thought, but in a different way, a non-sexual way. Like a brother. Like an uncle. Like the best friend who always had my back in a fight.

In a way, she missed that. But she had let anger and bitterness blind her to the atrocities and murders they had committed. She had told herself faith and loyalty to drown out her conscience crying murder.

But that old Monroe had put loyalty to Bellamy ahead of everything else... including Harper, and their then-growing feelings for each other. And those priorities had gotten her killed.

Monroe drew a harsh breath into a tight chest. "She's what I needed. What I NEED."

Bellamy nodded. "You're a hell of a soldier," he said admiringly. "You'll be one hell of a medic, too."

Monroe just stared at him, uncertain how to take what he was saying. He had turned her into a killer. He had gotten her KILLED. But she had gone along with it, every step of the way.

She had chosen to go with him those nights that changed everything. He and Pike had led, and she had willingly followed, against Harper's arguments.

"I'm... I'm messed up, Bellamy," she finally whispered. "But I'm trying my fucking hardest to get better." She glanced down briefly, and when she looked back up, her eyes were hard and cold, despite the wetness around them. "And don't ever call me a soldier again."

—O—

Nia stood on an elevated plateau twelve meters higher than the rest of the valley floor, giving her good visibility of the thousands of warriors gathered on both ends of the low, nearly flat plain that stretched out almost a kilometer ahead of her.

She hadn't started using her powers yet, and already the wind was biting, the temperature dropping. She smiled as she considered that perhaps nature itself was on her side.

"Are you going to initiate the attack, or wait for this Heda to make the first approach?"

She turned to see Hans, red hair as bright as she remembered seeing it in the soft pink of the dawn. "I would prefer to let Lexa grow impatient and commit her forces first, but I don't expect that will happen. She has a surprising amount of patience."

Hans nodded once. "So a brief waiting period, then you'll signal the charge?"

"Yes," Nia said, closing her eyes and lifting her face to the morning sky. She sniffed in the crisp scent of the grass, of the snow that was threatening to begin falling at her merest word.

"Emerson keeps insisting that he gets to kill the Clarke woman," Hans said.

Nia grinned, not bothering to open her eyes. "Let him dream," she replied calmly. "Truth be told, I care not if he kills her. As long as she dies, and I can display her body to Lexa. That will break the great Heda's resolve and end the last resistance to my ascension."

"You're already a queen," Hans asked, keeping his voice neutral. "What remains? Empress, perhaps?"

Now Nia opened her eyes. She could hear the whispers coming from the sinister tome barely contained in the canvas pack strapped to Hans's back. The hissing whispers had grown louder every night, rising in volume with the extent of her own power. The book was hungry for a new master.

"Aren't you the one who keeps reminding me not to grow too arrogant, Prince Hans?" Nia asked sweetly. "Let's deal with the force set out before us today. Then we can discuss how we'll carve up this world, and then your world after that."

Not waiting for a reply, she lifted her arms to her side and began commanding the cold to unleash a wintry hell upon the forces of the Coalition.

—O—

"She's starting," Elsa said, turning to look at Lexa and Anna, both of whom were mounted on their horses, Lexa atop a jet black stallion, Anna atop her shimmering ice steed.

"Go do your thing," Anna said, smiling at Elsa.

Elsa nodded. "I love you," she said with a smile.

"Love you too," Anna replied; as soon as the words were spoken, Elsa turned and practically ran in the direction of the raised knob where she had decided to work, set off to the side of the Coalition's main camp. The field hospital tents had been set up on the opposite side, in case the cold threatened to run wild around Elsa during the mystical struggle.

"Time for us to take our positions?" asked Anna, turning to Lexa.

"Yes," Lexa replied simply, nudging her horse forward, with Anna doing the same to keep pace as they began to ride at a controlled pace toward the warriors assembled before them, just over eight thousand Coalition warriors and twenty Skaikru guards.

—O—

Fat flakes of snow began to coalesce and fall, tumbling eagerly toward the ground as Elsa reached the modest summit of the raised mound of earth. She turned to face the forces arrayed across the green valley below, grimacing.

The cold was unhappy, howling its displeasure at being ordered by one so petty and contemptible as the pretender across the valley, but it was unable to resist her corrupt power.

"She's been cruel to you, I know," Elsa spoke tenderly as she closed her eyes and raised her arms to her sides. "And you don't have as strong a connection to me here as we're used to. But all the might in the world is worthless if it can't be applied to the proper target." Elsa smiled as she felt the cold around her begin to sing, silent to the ear but a joyous symphony to her mystic senses. "And today we'll teach the false ice queen a new tune, won't we?"

—O—

Hans watched as large flakes of snow began to fall. They would quickly multiply, followed by the winds beginning to howl, and then be joined by pelting sleet and hail. Such was the way Nia always began the battles he had watched over the last month, debilitating any opposing forces even before the first blade bit into human flesh. Properly garbed and accustomed to fighting in arctic conditions, the Azgeda had made short work of their sodden, freezing enemies in every battle over the last few weeks.

So when the temperature did not plunge below freezing and the large flakes of snow remained the only visible manifestation of winter several minutes into Nia's magical working, Hans puckered his lips slightly in confusion. "Pausing for dramatic effect, Queen Nia?" he asked sardonically.

A snarl crossed Nia's face as she channeled her tainted magic, pouring her will and rising anger into the suddenly reluctant winter weather.

—O—

Across the valley, Elsa felt the force that was pushing against her and the cold stiffen and surge. Smiling, she resisted the impulse to oppose it directly and instead deftly redirected the pulse of power, splitting it and sending it to both sides of the valley, to spend its sodden fury on the mountains ringing the valley and not on the people down below.

—O—

As Nia watched the sleet and snow burst forth in a deluge of white precipitation high atop the mountains to either side of the valley, she ground her teeth out of sheer fury.

It was taking most of Hans' self-control to keep from laughing outright, both at Nia's sudden ineptness with her powers and with the near-comical level of frustration she was exhibiting at her clumsy efforts. "Perhaps we should start the attack," he offered. "It seems they've developed some sort of countermeasure against your powers."

"Likely some of the damned technology Lexa has sold her soul for," Nia spat, turning the unfamiliar word into profanity with her tone of voice.

"Well, we still outnumber them one-and-a-half to one. And your people are the fiercest warriors among the Clans, correct?"

The sorcerer was right on that, at least, even if Nia could hear the taunt in his voice. Soon. "We survive in the cold and icy wastes. We fight to live each day. The other clans are capable fighters, but not the equal of Azgeda."

—O—

Lexa looked rather dubiously at the radio in her hand. She supposed it to be a bit ironic that even though she carried technology a century more advanced nestled against her brainstem, she was still the slightest bit apprehensive about anything she had seen the Maunon use.

But the Maunon were no more, and that was due to the woman Lexa loved, so she supposed any evil the bits of metal and plastic in her hand might have once held had been exorcised by the surge of radiation in which Wanheda had been born.

So what more fitting use for this device could there be, she surmised, allowing a confident smirk to flit across her face as she pressed the button that would carry her voice to the other radios carried by the Skaikru gunners spread throughout the Coalition army in the valley below.

"Kongeda warriors!" she said forcefully, holding the radio away from her head as Clarke had helped her learn when they had practiced the previous day. Her voice would carry well enough for nearly all of her forces to hear her words, but the plan she and Clarke had devised needed the Azgeda to hear her words as well. Thus, the radios, which amplified Heda's speech at multiple points along the front lines of the Coalition forces, and her holding it away from her mouth so as not to be too loud during her transmission.

"Today, we will end the treachery of Nia, the one who has twisted an entire clan against their brothers and sisters! The one who has cheated death and made a mockery of honor! On this day, we will end the reign of this traitorous queen permanently!

"You have heard that Nia wields magic." Lexa paused. "I do not dispute that, as only the darkest of forces could bring the dead back to life, and the tales of the atrocities that have been committed in her name and for her 'magic' over the last two moons should sicken even the strongest of us."

The silence that enveloped the entire valley was absolute once the echoes of Lexa's voice faded, even on the far side, where Nia and Hans stood, Lexa's voice faintly reaching them.

Lexa took in a breath before she continued, allowing a hint of anger into her voice, the steel of command infusing her words now. "But we have magic of our own!" she cried. "We have WANHEDA!"

The shouts that erupted throughout the Coalition forces made the mountains themselves tremble, the enduring stone enclosing the valley reflecting the cries and cheers again and again.

Lexa let them cheer for several seconds, resuming before the cries could fade. "The army that fights with Wanheda cannot be defeated! Death herself is on our side today, and when confronted with Wanheda's power, Nia's magic WILL fall short!"

—O—

As Lexa handed the radio back to Nathan Miller, she smiled, then she set her horse gently into motion, making her way down the inclined slope to the thousands of Coalition warriors who would follow her into any hell their Heda chose to challenge.

And across the open brown expanse shot with patches of green between the two armies—which still remained free from any wintry accumulation—the seeds of doubt began to take root in the Azgeda.

—O—

"Superstition," Nia said, her voice lower than she had hoped. The audacious girl Clarke was clever, and Lexa had always been dangerously cunning, but the Skai girl no more wielded magic than the sun rose from the west and set in the east. Wanheda was a superstition, no more. "A weak attempt at intimidation before battle." She sniffed. "I'm not so foolish as to fall for that."

Behind and beside her, Hans remained silent. It's not you that has to fall for it, he thought quietly. And his concern about this "Heda," along with his estimation of her abilities, crept up significantly.

—O—

By the time Lexa and Anna had reached the front of the Coalition forces, the front lines of Nia's army had begun to walk forward, starting to close the gap of open field between the two armies.

"Begin slow advance," Lexa said firmly. "Patience. Discipline."

Heeding her words, the first units began to advance. The front line units were heavy on spears and pikes, split into twenty platoons of thirty warriors each, most of which included one Skaikru gunner. Many of them carried large shields, some made of wood reinforced with iron bands, others made of hammered metal, which they had learned to use as the Greek hoplites and Roman legions had millennia ago. For most combat, the Grounders eschewed such devices as shields, but when faced with the prospect of a barrage of arrows, it would have been foolish to not take proper precautions... and Lexa did not suffer fools under her command.

Behind the shield units were the bulk of the Coalition infantry, most of whom carried spears and swords, but there were many others who chose to carry more esoteric weapons, ranging from massive warhammers to thick wooden staves to daggers and clubs. They were likewise split into platoons, arranged so that they stood in line with the gaps between the front line units. Only a small portion of the infantry was in this second line, however, as the rest of the units on foot were currently kept slightly back, behind the archers and cavalry, so fresh warriors could be brought forth within moments to relieve the forward units, while the Skaikru gunners would simply fall back into the middle of a new platoon as it joined the fray and relieved the previous squad.

The cavalry was spaced out widely, to not give any indication of their plans. There were well over four hundred of them, men and women both on fighting horses, most of them with battlefield experience. Lexa was fond of lightning-swift cavalry strikes during battle, and they were prepared to form up on their Heda and mount a charge whenever she gave the signal.

As Lexa watched across the steadily shrinking field of brown and green between her and Nia's front lines, she began to perceive details about the troops approaching her. Flashes of green on arms and legs, indicating the Broadleaf clan. Blue streaks of war paint on faces and neck, for the Blue Cliff tribes. The bald heads of the Glowing Forest clan. Most tellingly, no sign of the furs or blood-red warpaint favored by the Azgeda.

"As I expected," Lexa said softly to Anna, whose icy steed kept a steady, measured pace beside Lexa's. "Nia has filled her front lines with those clans she has forced into serving her."

"She's a real winner, huh?" Anna asked offhandedly.

"She already considered herself better than everyone else before she returned from the dead. Now I imagine her megalomania is absolute."

The sound of a man's shout, controlled but firm, drew their attention back toward the other lines, which haltingly stopped advancing at the noise.

Anna gave Lexa a curious look, receiving only a calm expression in reply.

Across the roughly seventy meters that remained between them and the other army, Lexa and Anna watched as a weathered man with long white hair stepped forward from the middle of Nia's front lines. He carried a simple spear, wore only a makeshift vest that appeared to be made of beads strung over leather straps, soft brown pants and simple leather shoes. He patiently began to walk toward the two mounted women, unaccompanied by anyone else.

Lexa turned to look at Anna, whose face was clearly curious. With a gentle nudge from her heels, Lexa eased her ebony horse forward at a slow lope; only a second later, Anna did the same.

The three of them met in the middle of the open ground that stretched across the valley, both the mounted women and the older man stopping roughly five meters apart.

"Bent Trees," Lexa spoke calmly, nodding her head slowly in respect.

"Heda," the Broadleaf clan chief replied, nodding deeply and holding it for several seconds before lifting his chin to meet Lexa's bright gaze.

"I have fulfilled my part of the bargain," Lexa spoke clearly, raising her voice just enough to be heard through the front lines. "Your people and all those held captive have been freed."

There was a pause for several seconds as Bent Trees closed his eyes and breathed deeply for several seconds. "Forgive an old man for doubting, but... do you have proof of this?" he asked, his voice wavering slightly.

Lexa reached inside her leather coat, pulling out a small bundle wrapped into a soft white cloth. She tossed it to him underhanded, slow enough for him to easily catch.

The older man's hands shook visibly as he carefully unwrapped the package, unfolding the cloth to reveal trinkets he recognized from his grandchildren and a rolled-up paper threaded through a simple silver ring. Tears began to fall as he gently removed the paper from his wife's ring, unrolling it and reading the note she had written him.

—O—

"What are they doing?" hissed Nia, growing increasingly bitter as the cold simply refused to unleash its wrath on the Coalition like she demanded. It seemed to be spraying sleet and snow all around the valley, coating the mountains with inches of wet precipitation, but she could not get the snow and sleet focused on the opposing army.

It was pissing her off.

Hans frowned. The small meeting at the front lines was quite far away, and the early morning light was still dim from the sun just beginning to rise over the mountain to his left; as a result, all he could see was that the two meeting with the white-haired man on foot were astride horses, and all three of them appeared to be in no hurry. "My guess would be negotiating a surrender. Or a defection."

Nia growled audibly, dropping her arms and forgetting the suddenly willful storm for a moment. She stared at the small gathering half a kilometer away for several seconds before her mind cleared and the man's white hair reminded her who was willful and stubborn enough to defy her orders and risk death in the process. "Archer!" she snapped, angry at herself for ordering him to the front lines with the rest of his reluctant clan.

The two archers positioned ahead of her turned and looked at her.

"Kill the old man," she sneered. "He's been resistant from the start."

The archers looked at each other before the one on Nia's left nodded. He withdrew an oily black arrow from a small quiver on a stand beside him, handling it with a gloved hand as he nocked it to his bowstring.

Hans had enchanted a few arrows with dark magic, adding to their range and accuracy as well as imbuing the wood itself with a deadly poison that ate away at tissue and organs alike once it struck its target. The drain involved in creating them was extreme, even with sacrifices, so he had only been able to enchant less than half a dozen of them out of fear of weakening himself so much that he wouldn't be able to defend himself should Nia decide she no longer needed his services.

"Why not kill the girl, this Heda?" asked Hans. "It would seem she'd be the ideal target to slay."

Nia turned to look at Hans. "I wouldn't put it past her to see the arrow coming were it aimed at her. She has some power from her Nightblood that has always been kept secret from everyone else. That's how she was able to defeat that fool Roan in combat despite him being twice her size." She smiled cruelly before adding, "And I want to see her face break when she sees her precious little Skai girl dead before her."

She turned her attention back to the archer, standing ready. "Kill the old man," she said again. "Show his people what I do to traitors." She turned to Hans. "Ready yourself for battle, Prince Hans. The Coalition falls today."

With a curt nod, Hans turned and began walking toward his tent and his gear. And strapped across his back, as bloodshed, suffering and death loomed large, the Codex began to shiver with morbid glee.

—O—

Author's Afterword: I had considered trying to get the whole battle into one massive chapter, but I think that would take ANOTHER two or three months. You've waited long enough. So here's the first part of the battle now, with the rest in the next chapter to come. That chapter should come pretty quickly, as I'm already well into writing it.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you with the next chapter!