Hale bent over the strategy map. The wooden figurines that were meant to represent the Gredithian army had been carved in the shape of fat ravens. Hale barely offered them more than a disgruntled look. Ravens were part of the Gredithian sigil. It was the monkeys that bothered him. He picked one up, looking over the crude statue as he tried to understand what would possess her to give such a childish jest.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" he asked, turning to face his ally.

Queen Evony, of the Dellian Kingdom, merely laughed. "Of course it's a joke, don't you see, dear?" She sauntered over, bending over to pick up a fat raven. "This one," she said, her nails tapping the flat bottom, "Represents the Gredithians. I haven yet to meet one that wasn't a scavenger. It's probably why they carry the creature on their banners. This one," she touched the monkey's head, smiling at Hale, "is you. I think it's obvious as to why."

"Our sigil is-"

"The darling crane flower, yes yes, very interesting. Doesn't make a for a good figurine though, does it? If I wanted to cover my table with flowers I would have brought bersintian roses."

"So you thought a monkey was more attractive?"

"Well you are little monkeys, aren't you? All dancing to my battle tune," she hummed, pleased before picking up her own. A carved lion. "Besides, monkeys are far more clever than people give them credit for. A lion could still devourer them, and a raven will always peck at it's corpse, but all the same," she smiled, placing the lion back onto the map. "I think you're missing the point."

"It's racist."

"How is it racist?"

"You have monkeys representing my kingdom."

"Your army, dear. Not your people. And your army is a bunch of monkeys." She turned around, looking to the two soldiers standing by the door. "Your little wolf hasn't checked in, I noticed. He's been missing for a while now. Best to assume dead or captured."

"He's been missing for a day, not a week. Assume delayed," Hale pressed. Placing his hands onto the table, he bent over, muttering about Evony's harshness as he resisted the urge to throttle her.

Evony took little mind of him, her eyes were on the map, scheming some horrible plan. Probably something bloody.

"Bo checked in," he said, over his shoulder. Evony snorted.

"She sent a flare signaling your witch. Knocked twelve soldiers off their feet, too. I, of course, already had Lauren on the battlefield. It would have been a shame if she'd been stuck with the arches and one of your lesser mages was forced to deal with whatever the issue is." Hale looked to the queen, noting that she sounded impressed over Lauren. "Do you know why she sent for your witch?"

"The flare is two days away on a hard ride."

"On one of your horses, yes. Your point?"

"She sent it this morning."

"And the message came this evening from one of the pigeons. I still don't understand your point."

Hale glared. The woman was teasing him. Turning away from her, he adjusted the wooden figurines and looked over the battle plan. One of Evony's scouts had arrived earlier with new information, informing them of a battalion coming in from the seas. He'd ridden on horseback for a week with a broken collarbone to deliver the message. Apparently the battalion was made up of young, fresh of age soldiers, ready for battle.

Hale didn't think they were a threat, but Evony hadn't moved from the tent since she'd heard.

Looking at her now, he could see her brow creased as she looked vaguely to the tent's opening. Her dark hair had been pulled back from her face, and her dress was a simple purple garment, made from loose material rather than something more extravagant.

The first time he'd met Evony, when the Old King had reigned, she'd been elaborately dressed, her hair designed in coils and braids with a silver circlet. She'd worn a dress that carried more jewels than his kingdom could afford. Della, however, was a wealthy country due it's mines and could easily afford such things without the people rioting. Evony traded dust with fae, in turn, she received wealth and power beyond his understanding.

If she toppled in this war, more than her kingdom would fall.

"Move the Southern regiment to mountain side, behind the West," she decided. "They can march at night. The West will bring the Gredithians through the mountains, from there the Southern can attack."

"They won't fall for that," Hale said. "They'll see us march."

Evony scowled, turning to look at the map. "Where's my advisor?"

"He died. His throat was slit."

"Oh yes," she smiled then, slow and hungrily. Hale wondered not for the first time, if she'd killed her advisor. But he didn't ask. Evony had more than once warned him not to trust her, it was one of the few advices he'd listened to.

He looked to her now, watching as Evony leant over the map, her hands sprawled out on the tables edge as she glared down at the table. "What would you do?"

"I would-"

"No, not you," she glared, "You."

Hale looked to his right. A soldier floundered, his mouth falling open at the question asked. "Me?" he managed.

"Is there someone behind you?" she mocked.

There was nothing but a tent and the soldier had the intelligence not to look back. If he had, Hale wasn't sure if Evony would have killed him or humiliated him. Both, probably.

Moving forward, the soldier coughed into a fist, clearing his throat as he stepped to the other side of the map. On his shoulder was a branded lion, telling Hale that he was one of Evony's own foot soldiers. Soldiers higher up in the ranks wore the crest on their chest, knights wore plated or scale armor, rather than leather. Few, but some wore chainmail.

"Here," she said, stepping to the left, "stand beside me so you can see the map from ur point of view."

The soldier managed not to shake as he stepped forward and moved beside her. He looked at the map, brow furrowing beneath a dark fringe of hair.

Hale rolled his eyes, looking to the door soldiers. The two men held placid expressions, unsurprised by the event and uncaring towards their comrade.

When he looked back to the strategy map, the soldier had picked up a monkey and moved it beside a lion. He mumbled something about having the two armies spread out from there, but stopped in the middle of speaking, his throat catching before gargling on his words.

Hale's eyes shot to the man as blood pooled and spat from his mouth, his hands clutching at his own weapon, before he fell to the ground. A decorated dagger, designed with gold vines around the handle, stuck out from the back of his neck, through his spine.

Evony picked up the monkey and placed it back where it'd been earlier.

"Was there a reason you killed him?"

"Yes," she replied.

"And?" Hale pushed, growing frustrated with her. He didn't know the man but he wasn't so callous a sovereign to kill a person because they weren't good enough in strategy. He had been a soldier, in his mid-twenties at most. No doubt, this was his first war. Some sympathy wouldn't have killed her.

"I didn't like him."

Hale snapped at the comment, "What the fuck, Evony, you can't just go around-"

"Your grace," she corrected.

"What?"

"Not Evony, your grace is the appropriate address."

"We're of the same rank, I-!"

"Oh honey, no. We are not of the same rank. You may be the king of your little land, but let's be honest here. If I wanted to own your attractive ass, I would and you are very aware of that; which is why you're here." Hale's jaw clenched. Evony laughed at him. "You know if I fall, you fall and all the lands that need me for trade, need the fae to survive, will fall as well." She turned away then, looking to the war map.

Hale took a breath, pinching his brow as he tried to remember the lyrics to an old lullaby. Evony made his blood boil, sharing the same space as her was enough to make him scream in frustration.

"Why did you kill him?" he tried again.

"I told you, I didn't like him."

"You can't just kill people because you don't like them."

Evony rose her eyes to his, "Oh?" she mocked. "Well I seem to have been annoyed, and now he seems to be dead. I think I can do what I like." Turning back to the map, she moved a lion backwards, behind the hills. "Besides, that idiot couldn't even spy for his worth. Did he really think I wouldn't notice a raven flying into my country?" She shook her head, glaring at the figurines. "Not even worth buying onto my side. I don't know what they were thinking, sending him."

Hale's eyes widened, looking to the man. "He's Gredithian?"

"Maelthra, going by his enunciation. Not that it matters." She sighed, looking down at the body. She leaned down, ripping the dagger free and cleaning it on a silk handkerchief. "Well?" she asked, her eyes turning to the door soldiers and gesturing to the body with the red splattered handkerchief. "Get rid of him before he stains the floor. String him up so any other spy can see what happens when I catch them. That should scare the weak off."

Hale watched as the soldiers dragged him away, a red stain left on the floor where his body had laid. On the map, Evony wiped at a particular large, red droplet, shaking it off her fingers with disgust. He watched quietly, unable to process what happened.

Evony may come off as playful and temperamental, but there were days he became aware that the extent of her intelligence was far grander than she let on.

"Did you read any of the ravens?" he asked as she began moving the wooden pieces around.

"Nothing of interest. Just battle plans. I would have continued to mislead them, but the last raven they sent implied that they were aware he'd been caught. They probably found the soldiers I sent into the forest a fortnight ago."

Hale looked down at the map. Now, it showed an entirely different battle plan laid out than before. "What the-?"

"You think I'd allow a spy in my tent with my battle plans?" she scoffed. "You are so naive, sometimes."

"You didn't think to tell me that there was a spy? Allowed me to waste my time working out a battle plan from this." He waved a hand over the map, glaring at Evony viscously. But she was unaffected by the anger, busy moving pieces around as if he hadn't said a word. "Well, your grace?"

"Theres no need to get childish, Hale. Grow up and learn that you'll never be my equal in the battlefield. I'll never trust you or anyone else." She smiled then, looking him over. "You're quite charming when you're angry."

"Don't."

She shrugged her shoulders, still smiling as she folded her hands and placed her chin on top, apparently finished with setting out the real strategy map. "Any ideas now?"

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the centre of the map. A new, wooden idol sat on the table, made of a darker wood than the other figures. Two red jewels sat in the figures eyes, giving Hale a bad feeling that crawled down his neck. The wood had be carved like smoke with a hidden figure. Dark and terrible.

"Now that the tiresome spy's gone, perhaps I will tell you of my plan."

Hale looked to her, Evony had a well crafted mask that made her appear innocent, but Hale knew that there was nothing more suspicious than Evony smiling. "You make it sound as if you weren't going to tell me."

"I wasn't," she admitted easily. Her fingers reached forward, adjusting the centre idol so the ruby eyes faced her. "You're naive. You believe the lands can be united in peace if we try hard enough. You want to believe that this is the last war we'll enter and that less people will die. The true is, people are always going to die, war will always happen, and if you're stupid enough to believe you can change that, you won't last long on the throne."

Hale flinched, mouth twisting in disgust. "So I should become like you?"

"If you want to survive," Evony nodded. "People are always going to spy, Hale. They'll seduce their way into your bed, your heart. They'll charm you into believing that you are the one for them, or that they value your friendship. But people can be bought, they can lie and trick better than you and until you learn to see that, death will always be a single misstep away."

Hale dropped his head, looking away. "I didn't come here for advice."

"No, you didn't, did you? You came here to win a war against an invading army." Sighing, Evony walked away. She wanted to play with him, make him angry again, but he wouldn't play her game any longer. The best course of action was to step away until she grew bored. "That," she pointed to the idol, "is what I have the dwarves digging."

"You have dwarves?"

"Who do you think are in my mines? You think I would be as stupid as Maelthran's queen and use prisoners? Idiot, bitch. I look forward to bedding her, then killing her with her own knife." Evony's eyes shut, a look of content passing over her face before her eyes flashed open. "All my mines are closed until the war ends, of course."

"And the fae?"

"They can look elsewhere for now, I said as much to the queen. Or whatever their monarchy is." She waved a hand, dismissing the trivial matter.

Hale sighed. "What are digging?"

"A tunnel," Evony grinned.

"A tunnel for what?"

"You'll see. Did you ever wonder why I had no witches on the battle field. Sure, they come in short supply, even less are aware of their potential, but of all the kingdoms, you would think that I would stock up on as many as possible, wouldn't you?"

Hale's stepped away, looking to the map as he began to understand. "You won't have any after this."

"No. I won't. But it will be over and I would have won. So sorry for your dear battle witch. I'm sure she was just lovely. Your Old King stole her, didn't he? Made her realize her potential. I wonder, did you ever let her know that you were the reason Nadia died? Well, don't fear now. Your secret's safe now that she'll be soon dead."

Hale scowled, turning away with disgust. He should never have helped her.