Arlen walked next to Lynde as they went to the war meeting that Lord Cathair had called. Their pace was urgent as it was very important. It was to discuss the coming battle to break the siege of Petrøvya.

Two days after they came to Petrøvya, the Empire's army arrived. The initial battle claimed many lives on both sides, but the Empire still had the upper hand. They settled into a siege four days ago and hopefully the coming battle would end it.

They came into Lord Cathair's study and next to him were two men, both with the look of army men about them. On a table was a map of the city and its surroundings with chess pieces placed on it. Cathair had offered to teach the game to both of his Human guests and only Arlen accepted, but found he was alright with it—nowhere near as good as Cathair. He looked to them and said, "Good, you're here. Let's get started."

Arlen looked at the map. Judging by where they were placed the white pieces represented the Surdan forces while the black represented the Empire. There was a white knight and two rooks in the city and several black pawns outside the city. One odd thing was that there was a white knight outside to the southwest. He wondered where they were going with this.

Then Lord Cathair began to explain his plan. "Tomorrow, at first light, we will attack. The Empire's soldiers will be drowsy and rushed to respond. Our spies have told us that there is no set time when their drillmasters get them up. They seem to change it every day to keep the soldiers on their toes. It takes them ten minutes to all get in line with armor on when they are well rested, so they will be slow to respond at first light.

"We will ride out with heavy cavalry followed up by spearmen. The cavalry will focus on their northern flank while the spearmen take the center. They will be so unfocused on their southern flank that it will be easy to outflank them.

"Before the siege I sent five hundred men out to hide in the hills outside of the city. They will move in from the south to attack their flank and destroy them. With destruction almost assured the Empire's forces will retreat. Any questions?"

"I have one," one of the men alongside Cathair said. All eyes went to him. "Why don't we just destroy them? We can easily attack them from the west and cut off their only escape out of Surdan territory."

Cathair shook his head. "If they think they have no escape they will fight harder. Besides, it will make the men there isolated away from the others. If worse comes to worse, the southern forces can unite with the forces in the middle and fight there. We need only fight until they retreat."

Arlen thought it was a decent plan—simple yet elegant. It was not his place say that though, so he wouldn't.

"That sounds good, but where do I fit in to all this?" Lynde asked.

"I want you to inspire the men," Cathair said. "Give them a speech; tell them that they can win this fight."

Lynde seemed uneasy. "I've never given a speech before," she said. "How am I going to convince them they can do this?"

Cathair frowned. "I was afraid of this. If you don't feel you can deliver, then I'll do it. But if you are going to do it, then come to the wall near the front gate before dawn with a speech in mind."

Lynde nodded. If Arlen was right about her, then she would do it despite her fears. She was the brave sort, and might be able to persuade them to fight harder. The only thing she would have trouble with would be figuring what to say.

Arlen felt a hand shake his shoulder, and thus awakening him. He opened his eyes to see Lynde was doing the shaking. He frowned and said, "What is it?"

"It's almost daybreak," she said sort of melancholy like. "We need to get to the gate."

Arlen groaned as he got up from the couch tiredly. Since he was the only thing defending Lynde at this time of night, he slept in the parlor outside of Lynde's bedroom, as he had done for the past week. This was not Borromeo Castle, the home of the biggest target for assassins in Surda—the rebel King Orrin—so the guards were not as well trained. While there was a whole army in this city, there was always a chance that a well-trained assassin could get lucky.

As he sat up and started getting his boots on, Lynde spoke. "Do you think I can do this?"

Without even looking at her he said, "Yes I do."

"But I can't think of anything to say," she said.

"Well, tell them how to win this fight," he replied.

"I don't know how!"

As he finished the straps on his boots, he looked Lynde straight in the eye. "Tell them to be brave, to look beyond their fears and see that their enemies are more scared than they are. Tell them to hold fast to their comrades. Tell the spearmen to be strong, the cavalry to be fast, and the archers to aim true. Do not remind them of their fears, but have them recall their responsibilities to their families. That's what I think you should do anyway."

Lynde sighed. "I'm never going to remember all that."

"Well try your best and hope that's good enough," Arlen replied.

They soon left Lynde's rooms and began to head for the wall. In the area around the gate, many men had been gathered. Some had spears, some had longbows, and some were on horseback. Some sat around while others stood. The uniforms of the spearmen were cheaply made, being mostly hardened leather and not iron, but they were better than nothing and their helmets were iron. Among the cavalry much armor was worn, with both rider and ridden wearing armor of iron, which was a little strange to him. It didn't concern him too much, but he was on the lookout for anyone looking suspicious.

They were almost to the stair going up to the wall when Arlen saw something strange. While many of the men of Petrøvya had ponytails, there was someone he could clearly identify as a woman among the spearmen. It could have been an assassin, though it seemed odd to him that a female assassin would choose to disguise herself as a man. "Hang on," he said to Lynde who looked nervous, "I'm going to check something out."

Lynde allowed him to go and he went over to see why this woman wore the armor of a soldier. Through his eyes she stood alone, which made a degree of sense—a man might not want to associate with one like her. As he drew nearer he said, "You there." She looked to him. "By what right do you arm and armor yourself?

She turned to him and said, "By right of redemption." She took off her helmet, revealing her face. She looked rather pretty, but was about ten years too old for him. "I was a maid at the castle in Aroughs during the last war when Roran Stronghammer broke the siege. He came into the castle and stopped me and a couple of others, threatening us with violence if we didn't tell them where Lord Halstead was. I told Stronghammer where he was, hoping he wouldn't hurt me. He let us go, but he didn't let Lord Halstead or Lady Galiana go. He killed them, but he wouldn't have found them if it weren't for me. My only wish is to fight alongside the men to redeem myself and avenge the Lord of Aroughs and his daughter."

Arlen nodded. He could understand her need for this, being racked with guilt for ten years for something she did not mean to come to pass. He thought about this for a moment and said, "Then fight."

She smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

As he was about to go back to Lynde he turned back to the woman and asked, "What is your name?"

She crossed her arms and said, "If I should die today, then I will die a warrior's death, and perhaps you will know my name then from the songs that are sung. If I yet live, then there is no point in you knowing my name."

Arlen frowned and said, "Alright, be mysterious all you like. I was just being curious."