"There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare."

Sun Tzu

…

…

Siesta laughed as she watched her young siblings run around in the field, though it couldn't cloud the sadness in her heart. She would be leaving in three days, to head back to the Academy and to her work as a maid. Her father would be coming along, just to make sure that she made it safely. The orc population had apparently grown more restless these days, and a lone female traveler carrying no weapons was something which would just be asking for trouble. Still, she could spend what little time she had left watching her younger brothers and sisters make flower necklaces and play tag.

She thought about the fact that her parents had asked her if she had found a man at the Academy, and she had been forced to admit that it just wasn't plausible there. There were no servants at the Academy whom she had an interest in, and she could hardly be expected to strike a relationship with the nobles in that way. Many of them respected her helpfulness, and she had come to believe that Louise was a good friend, but some of them would on the best of days act like she didn't exist. On the worse days, there were the curses and insults when she hadn't scrubbed or cooked to their exacting standards. Even then, she accepted her job with a smile worthy of a proper maid. Perhaps she stretched it a bit too wide at times, but she did truly like her job, especially at a place that prestigious. The only male commoner who wasn't a member of the staff that she met on a regular basis was Louise's familiar, and while he was clever and charming, he was just too old for her.

"Big sis, big sis, there's a ship over there!"

She was awakened from her reverie by one of her brothers who had dashed up to her. After colliding and hugging his beloved older sister, he then pointed in the distance. Siesta gazed in that direction, and it was without a doubt a military ship judging from its size. But what was it doing here? It looked like it was coming from the west as well, which was where Albion was. There was no reason for an Albion ship to be here unless…oh no.

The little boy felt Siesta tremble, and looked up.

"Hey, Pierre, can you go get your brothers and sisters? Please?"

Siesta kept up that perfect smile she had learned in the Academy as she asked her brother. However, he didn't move at all.

"Big Sis? Is something wrong?"

"No, there's nothing wrong. Now will you please get your brothers and sisters?"

He still didn't move. Why didn't he move? She was his big sister! Didn't he trust her?

"Big Sis? Are you sure you're fine?"

"I said I'm fine. Take your brothers and sisters and go back in the house. Now."

"But-"

"NOW!"

For a brief instant, the smile cracked, and Siesta yelled at her little brother with an expression of anger and irritation. As Pierre in his fear dashed off to fetch his siblings, Siesta reproached herself for losing control as she watched his back. What was she doing? He was her little brother and he was concerned about her. She should be happy, not yelling at him!

She was just tired. Yes, tired. After all, it was only for a moment where she had yelled at her brother. She would need to head back in the house and get some rest. But she couldn't do that, because she could guess why an Albion ship was here approaching the village. It was absolutely confirmed when the lone ship was followed by at least ten more behind it.

She ran back towards the house, and saw that her parents were in the doorway, pointing at the ship. Their expressions were scared, and upon seeing their oldest daughter, they ran inside the house.

"Father, it's a war. Albion's invaded us!"

Siesta's father shook his head.

"That's impossible. They've been fighting their own revolution for a while now, and now they're going to attack another country? I can't believe it."

"Then what are they doing here, father?"

"I don't know, I don't know. I need to make sure all of you are safe."

Then the first of the dragon knights appeared. These were the pride of Albion's Air Force, even more so than the Lexington. For the Lexington was just a ship, however great and terrible it was. The dragon knights represented tradition and history for the island country. Their mountains had created harsh world for the flame-breathing beasts to live in, meaning that the weak were weeded out and only worthy beasts were used for battle. Taming a dragon was naturally incredibly difficult, and was a process which could take years, meaning that these were not expendable soldiers. But despite the difficulties, when the dragon was tamed, true bonds were always formed between the beast and its rider. Once a dragon had accepted a rider, it would never accept another even if the rider perished.

These knights had lifted off from the nearby ship, and thus proceeded to attack the peasantry even as they offered no resistance. Siesta screamed as the home of a nearby neighbor was set aflame and an old woman dashed out with her head lit.

"Siesta! Take your siblings and run to the forest!"

Her parents ran to the barn, and Siesta was too shocked to scream and ask them what they were doing. But then Pierre tugged at her skirt, and she realized that he had finally managed to collect them. There was no laughter, but neither were there tears at watching nearby houses burn up. The sight to these children was too bizarre for them to even comprehend. Nevertheless, their presence caused Siesta to awaken from her trance.

"All of you! We need to get to the forest, now!"

As they took off running, Siesta wondered if they would make it. They were just children, and she was a woman. The dragons wouldn't surely attack them, would they? She turned back, and saw that while the dragons had ignored her, their house was now burning. Suppressing her tears in the face of her siblings, the group ran into the trees.

As they hid, they watched the destruction of their village. Some of the children began to cry, but Siesta urgently told them that they had to remain silent. As the dragons continued to torch the village, Siesta thought. What would they do next? Would they land soldiers here, to burn and pillage, or do something even worse than that? Or would they continue on? But if they did land here, then -

Siesta stood up, and her siblings looked up at her.

"Everyone, there's something really important I need to do right now. Do not move from here, no matter what! Unless I come back or Mommy or Daddy comes here, you stay right where you are! Okay?"

Her brothers and siblings were too terrified to speak, and some of them just nodded without thinking. Siesta left the forest, and dashed into the village, towards her burning house.

…

There was no hesitation from Henrietta this time. Her country was under attack, and she would defend it. Perhaps if Albion had used a sneakier method of attacking, then the nobles would have hesitated to fight, which would have been to the benefit of the invaders. However, they had submitted a formal declaration of war, stating that Henrietta's refusal to return the Crown Prince and her royal tyranny over her people was sufficient basis for them to start a "war of liberation." While some of the nobles had urged that the Prince be returned to avoid war, most of the nobles realized it for the petty diplomatic trick that it was. If Henrietta returned the Prince to Wales to be executed, then Albion would have just searched for another excuse for the invasion. It wouldn't have mattered if the nobles had proclaimed that Wales should be returned anyways. Henrietta had made a decision. After a long, animated discussion with both Wales and Agnes on the day he had returned, she had decided that she would protect him from Albion no matter what, and made him a guest within the palace. It was the vow that one monarch made to another, after all. And it was definitely not a vow like lovers would make! It was different! They had not done anything romantic towards each other yet, after all!

As the nobles had quickly moved to the defense of the realm, Henrietta had managed to scrap together more forces than she had thought possible. Around 5000 Tristainian soldiers, with a very high percentage being mages, were capable of moving on short notice, and so she had made the decision to move forward to the defense of Tarbes. Her generals had pleaded that it was unsound, that the Albion air force would devastate them. But she was charged with defending the entire realm. They would not retreat!

As a result of her urgency, she had ordered her soldiers to march from Tristania to Tarbes, and thus for sixteen hours they had done so without a single break. Now, as they were only a few miles eastward of the village, Henrietta began to feel nervous. She wondered what her exact role in combat should be. Should she charge out there as a role model, or stand back and direct the soldiers? And above all, would she behave as a proper ruler of Tristain in the upcoming battle? It would be the first time that she would encounter the horrors of war which she had been taught about as a child, and Henrietta above wanted to show that she was capable of being a proper ruler, both in peace and war.

It was at that moment that Agnes rode back. The captain had been appointed to lead the cavalry, and thus they were acting as scouts as well as safeguarding against any surprise or flanking maneuvers.

"Your Majesty, I have urgent news for you. Could you please stop for a moment? "

"What is it, Agnes? We're nearly there, there's no time to rest."

"It'll still be at least another hour until we encounter Albion forces. Striking as soon as possible is important, but this march has been too much. The men are exhausted."

She had hardly been the first soldier to state that a pause was necessary, but Henrietta grumbled that even the captain of the Musketeers was saying that it would be necessary to take a rest. Then she looked down at the unicorn she was riding. They were magical beasts of the royal family, and while they lacked the strength and size of horses, they were faster and more durable. And even it was panting in exhaustion.

"Fine," Henrietta decided. "There's a nearby brook in the distance. We'll rest when we arrive there."

Even as she dismounted her mount, Henrietta never stopped to look forward in the direction of Tarbes. While Agnes was unable to conceal her concerned expression about her Princess's over eagerness, she continued to speak about what her scouts had encountered.

"Some of our forward scouts have encountered two riders. We believe that your Majesty would have a prime interest in meeting them."

"Are they Albion cavalry? We have already discussed that we shall treat all prisoners with proper care."

"No, your Majesty. It appears that a friend of yours, Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, was foolish enough to ride to Tarbes. Apparently my scouts said there was someone else with her, a man in what appears to be a military uniform, but with a design that they had never seen before. They've stated that they had business in Tarbes, but they'll only say what to you."

Henrietta wondered what to do with them. There was no denying that she was surprised to hear that her good friend had appeared, but she was naturally extremely concerned about Louise entering a place that would soon be a battlefield. She considered telling Agnes to order them to turn back, but then realized that they both knew it. They had to have a reason for coming to this place.

"Bring them here. I wish to talk to them both."

…

As Louise and Napoleon arrived at what was appearing to be a makeshift camp, the Emperor took notice of every detail of the soldiers of the Royal Army as they lay in the setting sun. They were clearly an exhausted and bedraggled bunch from long marching. Most of the soldiers were carrying what appeared to be matchlock muskets or pikes and had short swords strapped to their sides, antiquated weapons by Napoleon's standards. Some soldiers were in fact not holding any weapons at all, and while Napoleon figured that most of those people were mages, he couldn't rule out the possibility that some of the soldiers had simply dropped their weapons out of exhaustion. But it was the lack of cannon which was the biggest problem. As far as Napoleon could tell, they weren't carrying any at all, likely because of the speed which they had been marching. As far as he was concerned, an army without artillery was just a giant mob. Even if they had magic as opposed to his armies, the range which a soldier could point a wand and cast magic was limited compared to a proper 12 pounder.

All of this became irrelevant once Napoleon and Louise finally encountered Henrietta. She was standing next to another woman with short blonde hair, dressed as a knight. Napoleon couldn't help but wonder what this strange world was where women were not only fighters, but good ones. Like her master, they likely substituted magic for physical strength, but given that to have strength and skilled magic would be the best combination, were women simply better mages in this land? Now that he thought about it, he never really knew any of the male mages at the Academy, even before the Fouquet disaster. If he had the time in the future, perhaps he would fix that.

Henrietta stayed where she was when they arrived, only to suddenly dash up to Louise and encloses her in a tight hug. For the next few minutes, the two laughed in each other's arms as they talked about nothing important in general. Even if they were about to enter a battlefield, they remained happy to see each other. Then as they broke apart and Louise moved to Napoleon's side, Henrietta turned towards him.

"Greetings, Bonaparte. May I ask what you're doing at this particular time?"

Napoleon crossed his arms to her inquiry and gave a relaxed smile.

"Well, you certainly got here a lot faster than I expected, Princess. If anything, probably too fas-"

His words were cut off as the knight moved forward in front of Henrietta, putting her pistol in Napoleon's face.

"Who are you commoner, and what do you think you're doing speaking to your princess like that?"

Louise panicked at the danger her partner was in, as the knight was clearly ready to kill him for his casual way of speaking to the Princess. She instinctively pointed her wand at the knight, only to shriek again once she realized that she had just threatened the bodyguard of her dearest friend. Agnes tilted her face for a second to look at the screaming girl, only for her eyes to widen. During the miniscule timeframe in which she had moved, Napoleon had pulled out his own pistol and was pointing it at her head.

"I could ask you nearly the same thing, woman. What do you think you're doing speaking to me like that?"

Agnes glowered, and a few seconds passed as the Mexican standoff continued. Then Henrietta spoke up.

"Will both of you put your weapons down, now? I'll introduce both of you properly to each other later."

It was artfully framed. The statement was strong enough so that Agnes's loyalty to her Princess would make her obey, while it was not so strong that Napoleon would interpret it as a command and thus refuse to comply. The two lowered their weapons, but through their glares, they continued to shoot sparks at each other. Napoleon broke the silence by speaking directly to Henrietta.

"As I was saying, you got here a lot faster than I expected. How long have you been marching?"

"At this point, we've been moving for about seventeen hours."

"Without rest, right?"

"Yes."

The statement was strong and without guilt, but Napoleon's hand covered his face in response.

"You're a complete idiot, princess. Seventeen hours without rest? You'll be lucky if you have half the men you started out with. And you did it for utterly no good reason."

"What are you talking about? I am a ruler! I must protect my country! If you're a ruler, you should know that one must protect his people! If Tarbes is under attack from Albion, then it is my duty to protect such an important village!"

"Yes, it is."

Everyone around Henrietta simply stared at what Napoleon just said. She had to protect Tarbes, but he also berated her moving men to protect it?

"What are you talking about, you madman?"

Napoleon rubbed his face a bit more before ignoring Agnes's statement.

"Tarbes is very important, but you don't know why it's important, Henrietta. And so you moved your men at an insane speed for something which from your perspective shouldn't be an important objective."

"What. Are. You. Talking. About?"

"Tarbes itself really doesn't possess any value. There are two concerns with Albion possessing it, neither of which have to do with the village itself. The most urgent is that there is an extremely valuable magical artifact in the village."

Well, it wasn't magical, but Napoleon wasn't going to tell them that.

"If Albion gets their hands on it, it's over. I'd really like to secure and keep it, but it looks like it's too late for that. Consequently, we'll need to destroy it, and I know where it is."

"Well, where is it! Get out with the information already!"

Napoleon continued to ignore everything that Agnes said as he talked.

"There's no point in attacking now. Your men are exhausted and they'll be slaughtered by Albion's famous dragon knights. Henrietta, you need to wait until nightfall. Then take your best soldiers, and launch an attack then. The only goal should be to destroy the artifact, the Dragon's Raiment. Then you retreat."

The princess shook her head at Napoleon's advice.

"But if they take Tarbes, they'll take La Rochelle! And if that happens, we're lost! I have to fight here, while their numbers are limited!"

"That's the second concern about letting Albion have the village. But there's a way to deal with that."

Napoleon pulled out a map from a knapsack he was carrying and pointed at various locations. Agnes and Henrietta stared at what he advocated, and then they gasped on seeing what he had planned.

"But that's insane! If that goes wrong, it's over! We'll be defeated right there."

For the first time, Napoleon acknowledged Agnes's words as he shrugged in response.

"It's possible, I'll admit that much. But I'm going to tell you right now the alternative. There will be no sign from Brimir, no ridiculous magic that is going to turn this around. The Albion strategy is patently obvious. They won't have one, and will seek to grind you down with superior resources. Your choices are clear. You either make a bold stroke where you can seize a decisive victory, or let yourself be slowly ground down by Albion."

Henrietta shook her head, seeking an alternative.

"We have the alliance with Germania! If we simply delay and buy time, we can get them to come and help us repel the invasion."

"That's the absolutely worst course to take of all."

He countered Henrietta's argument without even hesitating, and then stood away from the map and sat down in a nearby chair. Agnes ground her teeth and gave a glare which could have killed people at his continued impropriety, but she said nothing.

"You have to think in the long term, Princess. If you wait for Germania to come in and help defend your country, then you'll likely prevent an Albion invasion. But what will happen after that? You'll just fall under Germanian dominance, as they'll demand things from you in exchange for helping you safeguard your own country. And while I know nothing about either country, it is worse to have a country that borders you dominate you as opposed to one who does not. If Tristain is to remain independent, then you need to defend yourselves, by yourself."

Henrietta thought about what he said as she looked at the map and what he advocated. He was right about the alliance. It had been her biggest concern about marrying the Germanian Emperor, even more so than betraying Wales. Her country had to seize victory by itself.

But as she looked at the plan he proposed, she still couldn't believe she hadn't already outright rejected it. It was dangerous, foolhardy, but most importantly, it flew against every principle of justice she believed in. It was… wrong. A wrong strategy.

But Agnes, who knew far more about military affairs than she did, said nothing in response to Napoleon's words. Even though she had nearly killed him, and was still clearly hostile towards him, it was clear that she had accepted his logic. The best move to secure victory was a bold stroke of daring. And as the captain looked at the map, and then looked at Henrietta, she confirmed her thoughts. What he had proposed from a military perspective was a gamble, but it was one that had a good chance of working.

Even then, Henrietta desperately wanted to say no. She wanted to scream and rage at him at what he had proposed, and then to take her forces and defend Tarbes to the end. But even as her heart told her that was what she should do, she could see that what was sketched out on the map was probably the most intelligent course. If she wanted to save Tristain, save her entire country like was expected from her, then…

As she gave her consent to the plan, for the first time in her life, Henrietta cursed the fact that she was born as a member of the Royal Family. Not even leaving Wales and her eventual marriage to the Germanian emperor had caused her to do that.