...

Once she had fallen, it was difficult to rise again. The citizens would be thrilled to have a new self-appointed monarch. He would treat the people kindly, but rule with an iron fist. She had already heard stories of his silver tongue and was amazed by his ability to persuade, and convince. She dealt with her problems with blood and murder, and he needed not to give more than a few brief words. He was an impressive force to be reckoned with, yes, but he was just a man. And all men could be slaughtered.

...

"Forced to hide like a common thief!" She raged, stalking around the dismal campsite. "And Nathanial," she spat his name, like it was a bitter poison. "How dare he take my kingdom?" Charity roared and birds in the surrounding trees took flight.

"Milady, not to ruin your tantrum, but we need to stay secret." Avven said lazily, his strong arms folded behind his head, a twinkle in his dark eyes. He was her most loyal follower and had been at her side through everything, the good, the bad, and now, the worse. Avven was her favourite, and the only human she'd ever allow to speak so disrespectfully to her.

She sent him a white-hot glare, but her anger had lost its edge. "How many of us are there left?" Charity grumbled, flopping down on a fallen log.

He leaned forward, hands fisted in his lap, his amusement gone. "Far too many were lost in the attack. They weren't trained properly and I apologize. I should've overseen it, instead of entrusting the task with that traitor, Gilroy."

"What's done is done and only the weak regret decisions made. If I blamed you, you'd be dead." She shrugged, closing her eyes. That was the closest she'd get to telling him that it wasn't his fault. "You'll get your chance to lay your hands on Gilroy yet. He won't escape alive."

An evil smile spread across Avven's scarred face. "Then he's mine?"

She nodded and his grin widened. "I get Nathanial." Charity said sweetly, opening one eye to peek at Avven before smiling herself. "And you may do as you wish to the traitor. Now, my earlier question. Who's left?"

"Not many. Besides you and I, Tobias, Warren, Trey, Roland, and Elijah are the only survivors. That's not even a quarter of what we had stationed at the castle, and as soon as the others heard wind of our defeat," he spat into the dirt. "The cowards switched sides." He ran a hand through his ebony hair and scowled. "If I-"

"They had alchemists." She snapped. "Eli couldn't fend all of them off himself. We had muscle, but we were up against those bastard magicians." Charity hated talking about their loss. "We just need to change tactics and move on. Calm yourself, we will get our revenge."

"What do you suggest?" His asked absentmindedly, gaze rising above her head. "Excuse me, milady. Tobias! What news do you bring?"

She stood when he did, turning to face the young man, face streaked with dirt, who approached. He staggered through the clearing, stumbling on loose rocks and over roots, clearly suffering from exhaustion.

"Milady." He forced himself to bow, grimacing in pain as he did so. "Avven, the perimeter has been secured but we've detected movement on the Northern front. Nathanial must know we're here."

Charity let out a long haggard sigh. She didn't worry for her own safety, and she normally considered her men disposable, but she would reward her soldiers loyalty with her protection. And besides, she didn't want to start all over now.

Avven exchanged a look with her. "How far off?"

"A mile or so." Toby replied, cradling his arm. Blood soaked his tunic from a gash under his collarbone. His breathing was ragged and his eyes could barely stay open.

"Call them in." She ordered Avven. Charity's eye twitched as she allowed herself to say: "Let me assist you. We need to get you to a healer."

Stunned, Toby couldn't do much more than stare at her with a strange look on his face as she helped him to the fallen log. "M-milady?" He choked on his own words.

She didn't respond to his confusion, instead sitting beside him. Adjusting her skirts, she scooted closer and he instinctively flinched as she reached out to him. She paused and sent him a questioning look.

"I apologize for my cowardice." He mumbled. "I've never seen milady touch another without killing them." Toby steadied himself.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to kill you, Tobias." She growled. "Now, can you remove your tunic?"

He paled and she barely restrained herself from sighing. "Never you mind." And with one fluid movement, she had torn the garment from his chest.

Staring blankly at the wound she bit her lip. "Now how do you dratted humans heal?" She had no experience in the field and Toby looked like he was about to pass out.

Toby stared at her uncertainly, and she stared at his wound in the same way. She prodded at it and he winced, but she took no notice, murmuring under her breath while she tried to figure out how to fix the problem.

"He's going to bleed out if we don't do something." Avven sounded amused.

Charity glanced up as her men approached. "I've got this under control." She saw Toby mouthing "help me" over her head and she frowned. "Fine, Avven. If you're so great, then you do it."

He flashed her an arrogant grin, his white teeth sticking out like a sore thumb against his dirt covered face. Avven leaned over her, snapped a few orders at the other boys, gathered up his supplies and had Toby wrapped in a matter of minutes.

He knelt in front of the boy and Charity sat close on Toby's left. She watched him as he worked, his large hands remarkably gentle as he bandaged the injury. She didn't realize he had skill in medicine. Her frown deepened, her competitive nature didn't care much for someone being better at something than her. She considered biting him, he was certainly close enough, but decided against it, it would probably scare Toby to death.

"Lie down for a moment." Avven gestured to a soft patch of grass nearby as he stood. "We'll have to move soon and you'll need your strength."

Tobias inclined his head to Charity as Avven helped him to his feet. "Thank you, Avven."

Avven nodded his acknowledgement and motioned the others forward. They stood in a half circle around Charity. "You mentioned changing tactics." He said, wiping the blood from his hands onto his pants. "What did you have in mind?"