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It was just a couple of days after the battle. At Empress Scarlett Silverlight’s request, a peace summit was called. The king agreed to the meeting. Both sovereigns gathered their most influential subjects and met near the edge of a forest mere hours away from where their armies were camped.



The king was accompanied by Princess Lorreaine, Lord Godfrey, Lord James the Black and his son Godwin, Sir Jarvis and Sir Almond. Sir Drakon also tagged along, as one of the few who still had a horse to ride, and Voytek and the mysterious helmeted commander were there representing the Bulls. Queen Lara was notably absent, as she was taking care of the wounded and didn’t want to leave the army leaderless. Belen remained with the knights of Kerrat for the same reason. Zahru had also remained behind since he was still recovering from the spell that’d been put on him during the battle and his presence might aggravate the imperials, seeing as he was the one to strike down the emperor.



Empress Silverlight led a delegation consisting of Lord Malagram, High Magister Kyra Kath’Remar, Sir Jason, Sir Branton, the waterdemon chieftains Fishstache and Fat Olaf, Lyra Longlance, Tatterdemalion and two of the late emperor Cales’ armoured bodyguards, now sworn to protect the empress. The Draklon Raiders’ Head Matriarch and a Draklon Raid Boss were also there.



“I’ve explained my late husbands’ dealings with the elves to my commanders,” Empress Scarlett explained after the formal greetings had been dealt with. “They agree they have been deceived and are willing to cede the conquered territories and put an end to the war.”

“You are still guilty of willful treason against the crown, Cales’ deception notwithstanding, but we have greater problems right now. We should agree to a truce, so long as the threat of the elves remains,” the king said sternly.

“Agreed,” Scarlett said. “If I could speak to Queen Lara, I believe I may have a way to rid ourselves of the elves, permanently…”

“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy,” someone standing behind the king said.

It was the mysterious Bull commander who kept his face hidden. Everyone turned to him as he walked closer to the two sovereigns, then stopped a safe distance away from them.

“You fought bravely, sir, but you’re out of line!” Lord Godfrey warned him.

“Let him speak,” the king commanded.

“I’m afraid I have some bad news… The elves haven’t taken their loss lying down. The Bull God showed us that they approached several of the realms’ leaders and convinced them to join their side.”

This caused an uproar among the gathered lords and warriors.

“Traitors, here?”

“Outrageous!”

“How can this be?!”

“Death to elf friends!”

“But who?”



“This is Bull deception, milord!” Lord Godfrey shouted. The king looked at him and the ruckus quieted to a murmur as those gathered turned to listen to him.

“Why believe this man who won’t even show his face or give us his name? They would benefit from our struggle the most! We’ve received reports that they are gathering in greater numbers again under a new chieftain. If they were truly loyal to the kingdom, why not support us with their full numbers? They are playing both sides! They sent a token force which they could claim no allegiance to should things turn sour. Now they are turning us against each other and asking us to believe in visions!"

“Sir Bull,” the king said to the mysterious warrior, for he lacked knowledge of the warrior’s name and the helmet distorted his voice enough so that it couldn’t be recognized. “How could we ascertain your claims? Can you name the traitors?”

“Their faces were shrouded in the vision, but with the help of your mages, it would be possible to determine who has been in contact with the elves…”

A sudden cry cut him off.



Everyone turned in the direction of the noise to see that the Drakloni had taken Lyra and Tatters hostage. Both had dropped their weapons in surprise.

“Nobody move!” the Raid Boss commanded.

“So, it’s them. Why am I not surprised?” Lord James said.

“What are you hoping to achieve?” the king demanded.

“That’s simple,” the matriarch said. “Everyone knows this girl is the late emperor’s daughter, and more than a few of the troops are whispering that Empress Pretty over there let Cales die on purpose to usurp his throne. Her right to rule is forfeit! Whoever marries Lady Longlance here can lay claim to the Empire, and more importantly, its armies.”

"Traitorous dogs!" Lord Godfrey swore.

“They’ll never follow you!” Sir Branton shouted, running towards them with his sword drawn.

“Wait!” Lord Gofrey said, shocked that Sir Branton would disregard the fate of the hostages.



“I can't believe this!” Lord Godfrey exclaimed as Sir Branton moved behind the Drakloni to join them, rather than fight them.

“It seems you don't have a choice. Now if you don’t mind, we should go. There's a civil war to be won.”

“Never!” Lord Godfrey said, pointing his sword at them. “We won’t let you go! If you kill these hostages, you’ll die in seconds! Give them up now, and we’ll show you mercy.”

“This is getting us nowhere…”



Lord Godfrey suddenly gasped as he was cut down. Everyone froze. Towering over his fallen body was Sir Godwin, Lord James the Black’s son. No one had seen his strike coming.

“Son,” Lord James said quietly, his voice strained. “How could you?”

“You taught me never to turn my back on power, father,” Sir Godwin said.

“You would inherit my lands and become the leader of the Black Knights! You’d be one of the most powerful lords in the lands!”

“Indeed. I would only inherit part of the kingdom. With the elves’ help, I’ll become king!”

“You have no power if others are using you for their ends, son. It’s a shame you didn’t realize that. The traitors have chosen their leader poorly.”



“That, they did not,” Sir Jason, now mounted on his horse, suddenly said.

“You too, Sir Jason?” Scarlett asked.

“A great leader knows how to compromise. Godwin will be king, and I will be emperor. We’ll divide the land between us.”

“A bold claim for your paltry band. You won’t even make it back to the camps!” Princess Lorreaine scoffed.

“Paltry, you say?” Sir Jason smirked.

Quick as the wind, both water demon chieftains and imperial bodyguards switched sides, nearly doubling the numbers of the traitors.

“The water demons weren’t difficult to convince. They seem quite content with fighting, whatever the cause,” Sir Jason mused as he turned his horse and rode away on a gentle trot as his co-conspirators backed up slowly.

“If you had your peace, what use would we be? How soon would you cast us out?” Fishstache asked slowly, looking in between the king and the empress.



On the edge of the forest, Sir Almond, Sir Jarvis and Lord James had surrounded Kyra and Lord Malagram and were poised to strike.

“So?” Sir Jarvis asked.

“So, what?” Kyra asked, perking an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you going to join them? Nearly all the traitors are imperials!” Sir Almond barked.

“I serve the powers of magic, so my loyalty to Lady Silverlight comes first,” Kyra said slowly. Then her eyes narrowed. “And I can’t approve of how the elves make use of it, either.”

“I’ve lost too many of my brothers in arms already. I don’t want further war any more than you do,” Lord Malagram said.



Hearing what was going on, Sir Jason stopped his horse and turned towards them.

“Ah, I’m glad you confirmed that for me. I thought both of you couldn’t be turned, which is why I chose not to approach you with this deal. Being a good judge of character becomes an emperor, wouldn’t you say?”

“I would’ve killed you on the spot,” Kyra said.

“How very nice. We really don’t have any more time to chat. Seeing as almost no one here still has a mount, I’ll just ride ahead. Branton. Bring Lyra and Tatterdemalion to the rendezvous. Kill them if anyone tries to follow you. Start by cutting something from the wizard to show them that you mean it, if it comes to that.”

“It will be done,” Sir Branton said.

Scarlett broke out of the ranks and approached the traitors in a final bid to win them over.

“All of you, it is not too late! Don’t you see this is what the elves want? They want us to keep fighting while they prepare their next move. They don’t care about us, in fact, they hate us. They created the undead, they can’t be trusted! They only do all of this because they fear us! We should unite against them!”

Xalen could be heard sighing at this vain attempt. Clearly, the traitors had made their choice. But if the knight could have seen both her and Tatterdemalion’s eyes, he would have noticed there was some kind of communication going on between them, and Scarlett’s plea was merely a ruse to cover for her actual plan.



Suddenly both Lyra and Tatterdemalion’s bodies seemed to meld into a blue mass of energy.

“What the…” the matriarch said as the captives slipped out of their grasp.



They reappeared on either side of the king, safely behind the ranks of the loyalists.



With the hostages gone, both sides started charging. Scarlett retreated behind the advancing loyalists. Sir Jason stopped his horse and turned it towards the impending carnage.

“So this is how they want it to be. I suppose killing them like this will save me the bother of doing it later.”