“Father, who was Queen Pedgonina?” a young Ypsilon asked his father. King Divindor smiled as he looked at his child and walked to a bookshelf behind his son to grab a book with Pedgonina’s name on the cover. “Well, son…” he said as he opened the book and sat on his chair by the chimney, “Queen Pedgonina was the matriarch, the preacher, the educator, the most noble of our people. She was born in times of war and despite being a child struck by poverty she was always looking after her people. Our kingdom was always surrounded by dangerous foes of which our queen made lightwork out of them—-”.

  “I heard she was a very strict lady when she was in power.” Ypsilon countered.

  “That is true , yes… Our Queen was strict, she demanded a lot from her people but none of her demands were impossible tasks. Much on the contrary, they were very feasible and being one of the people who met her demands was a good thing.”

  A knock on the door to the study was heard and King Divindor ordered their identity. “Husband?” Queen Cleena asked, “Is Ypsilon with you?”

  “I’m here, mother.” Ypsilon answered.

  “What are you doing in your father’s study?” Queen Cleena interrogated as the door creeped open.

  “Father was telling me about Queen Pedgonina.” Ypsilon answered.

  “Can you give me a minute with your father?” Queen Cleena asked with an eerily forced smile pointed at King Divindor who steadily reacted by telling the boy to go look for another book for them to read.

  “What’s wrong?” Divindor whispered.

  “We’re under attack, a siege from what I’ve been told.” Cleena replied calmly.

  “What?” He asked as a drop of sweat came down his chin, “By who?” Divindor added.

  “Palibar hasn’t told me but he waits for your arrival at the round table.” Cleena said as she walked past her husband towards her son, “Ypsilon, come with me… Your father needs to attend an important meeting.”

  “Like those of Queen Pedgonina?” Ypsilon Questioned. Queen Cleena nodded.

  “What is happening beyond our walls?” King Divindor asked as he barged into the room where Commander Palibar awaited along with Commanders Fervidela, Beaxino, Xarico and Antim, and Prince Jumaar, King Dividor’s elder brother.

  “We are under attack, our forces are fighting as we speak, Commander Loterola and her twin, Commander Loraeona are in battle as we speak.” Commander Palibar replied.

  “Who might this be? Ladrium? Toriantis? Who?!” King Divindor exclaimed.

  “I’m afraid we don’t have that information yet but we a—”

  “What do you mean by that?” King Divindor interrogated.

  “We only know that the ones attacking our humble abode are mercenaries, brother.” Prince Jumaar replied, “Our forces are steadily taking care of it.” The prince added.

  The king took a deep breath, glanced at the map and the blackboard dirtied with names behind Commander Palibar and proceeded to take a seat at the round table. “What are we looking at here?” The king asked.

  “Mercenaries… The Flock of Cloaks if we need specifying. They are not alone but they are the ones in major numbers.” Commander Palibar replied.

  Commander Fervidela passed a sheet of paper to the King with a list of mercenary guilds, “The ones we crossed out are not in the invasion.”

  Divindor skimmed through the list, reading the names of those he recognized. “Lost Order, Craven Bats, Badge of Valatar…. Badge of Valatar?” He questioned. “These people are from the other side of the sea. What are they doing here?” He asked, alarmed by their appearance. “How are we doing on the battlefield?” The king added.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The Commanders smiled, “As we said Sire… Commanders Loterola and Loraeona are on the battlefield and based on their reports, they will easily take care of the siege.” Prince Jumaar replied.

  “What do you know about war, Brother?” Divindor replied.

  “It is true your Majesty… In terms of skill and numbers they do not come close to us, it will be an easy victory by sunrise.” Fervidela answered.

  Divindor nodded in acceptance, a faint smile appeared on his face revealing a small dimple on his right cheek. “Call Loterola, tell her to bring me two invaders of each guild for interrogation. I now have to go tend to a meeting with the Zareros and Pe Balaros before they barge in here due to what’s happening outside.”

  A heavy swing came down on Loterola, she easily weaved out of the way returning her own swing towards the mercenary’s neck - clean and sharp - the blade went through, rendering him dead. The battlefield was coated in a red and blue hue courtesy of the midnight rain under a swing of the moons and the light rain that diluted the puddles of blood into streams of red flowing down the mountain edge toward the sea. “This is boring…” Loterola whispered as another mercenary lunged at her with a spear - parried - the spear now drumming, Loterola rapidly stepped inside rendering the spear useless as she reached for her holster unsheathing a dagger, bolting it towards the mercenary’s face whose reaction was only in the mind as the dagger was already locked to his cranium. Loterola sighed.

  “Loterola.” Palibar said through a steam necklace, “The king asked for you to bring him big heads from the mercenaries… Those who could give us information.” He added.

  “Okay… No problem from my side but you should probably ask if Loraeona hasn’t done that already.” Loterola replied as she picked up her dagger from another mercenary’s neck.

  “I did already, she hasn’t but I told her to do the same just in case you’d get too excited there.” Divindor stated.

  “HAH! Excited?! This has been the most boring battle I’ve been on in a long while… We even let our rookies out.” She said, pitying the mercenary she’d subdued by stabbing his feet and cutting his left hand, “Let me finish this here and I’ll come down there so you can make me a meal.” Loterola added.

  “Just focus on your work.” Palibar replied hastily before letting out a nervous chuckle.

  Loraeona watched the battlefield from the city gate, her spear cleaner than the royal kitchens and her cloak whiter than geese feathers. Beside her were mercenaries she had caught and forced to watch as their people were decimated by the second.

  “Why are you doing this to us?” One of the mercenaries asked.

  Silence…

  The mercenary frowned and tried staring at his feet but was met with a slap before he could even finish his movements. With their hands and feet tied together, the four mercenaries felt as if they would be better off dying than watching their people be slaughtered but Loraeona wouldn’t let that happen.

  “Who sent you here?” King Divindor asked one of the mercenaries.

  Silence…

  “Not talking then… What do you want? Riches, Women, Food?” Divindor asked.

  Silence…

  Sigh… King Divindor thought mercenaries were simple men who only fought for money or glory instead of honour, and he wasn’t wrong but before Divindor could figure it out a knock on the dungeon door interrupted his thoughts, “Who goes there?” The King asked.

  “Commander Loraeona has called a meeting, Sire, she adamantly pleads for your majesty’s presence.” The dungeon guard stated.