Winter had come to Iride.

Caught unaware, the citizens huddled in their houses and looked towards the skies, begging their gods for forgiveness. It took a few days for the news to become whispered words on frozen lips all throughout the kingdom.

It wasn't the gods.

It was Endir.

Ednir was attacking. Endir once again had magic.

Desperate rumors circulated with a speed far greater than any royal runners. The Witch King was back, and now he would conquer Iride in a fit of vengeance. He had brought the endless winter upon them.

It took much longer for other tendrils to break through collective knowledge.

The Witch King was dead. This time, Endir had an Ice Queen who wanted to punish Iridie for its riches.

The current king would not let her.

The current king was not Fherras. He was young, handsome and brave. He used to be the beloved Admiral of the Royal Navy. He was the cursed duke of the southern lands of Sandrine.

Their king had magic, too.

And while the news first terrified the subjects of Iride, as the days of ice and cold turned into weeks, they began to wonder. If the queen of Iride had ice, did their king have fire? Could he end the winter? Could he protect them from Endir?

What if magic could not only destroy, but also create?

More news reached every corner of the kingdom. The king was not in Valona. He'd gone out to meet the armies of Endir and stop them. He would protect his people.

And with those news brought from the frightened and awed lips of displaced peasants, the quality of the whispers changed.

There was hope. Maybe magic wasn't evil. Maybe the king could shield them from Endir's wrath. After all, it had been weeks since they invaded, and they hadn't been overwhelmed.

Slowly, people whispered that it might be the king's magic protecting them. Either that, or his prowess in battle was enough to counter the magical force of Endir.

People began to have hope. To believe that, even if their crops were covered in frost, they may still get out of the endless winter yet.

What they didn't know was that their frustrated king was not winning the war.

He was delaying it.

⚜

Cage felt like screaming.

It was not going well. His plan of leading a guerilla war against the incoming forces of Endir had shattered the moment Kat decided to do the same.

In accordance with well-tested battle strategies, General Harkiss had amassed his armies on the closest plateau to the Derbin pass, waiting for the invading army.

In the meantime, Cage, Jazz and Trix made quick incursions into the forest to check on the progress of Endir's advancement, most times joined by a squad of elite soldiers. They knew the opposing army would be slow, but their pace ended up being almost snail-like.

At first, it was obvious that the terrain and the snow Kat used as a cover to approach impeded her own army. Then, they just disappeared.

It took days and much frustration to finally find that the Endirian army had taken advantage of the terrain and had split into many much smaller units which could advance in different directions. They were not heading for the plateau. They would not face the army waiting there.

Cage had to admit that, had he been in Kat's shoes, he would have done the exact same thing. Why walk headfirst into open war? But that didn't mean that he liked this ingenuity or general Harkiss' reticence to split the army up himself.

This new strategy had Cage, Jazz and Trix splitting up, each of them in charge of a special task force meant to intercept scraps of the Endirian army and clear out the villages which could be attacked on the way.

Sometimes, these actions led to clashes with parts of the Endirian army. The enemy soldiers were well prepared and driven by a loyalty to their cause that made them fierce warriors. Many times, the Iridian soldiers, much fewer in number, had to retreat and let their magic wielding commanders settle the matter.

This, however, meant that Cage threw himself into the throes of battle, often letting his guard down and risking injury just to gain a tactical advantage. He knew the risks were minimal since he healed quickly, but the rest of the army didn't seem to feel so.

It led to General Harkiss banning him from these incursions and assigning Rip to lead his party.

"The king can't be in constant danger. It's damaging the morale of the entire country!" Harkiss raged.

"It's much harder to kill me than any of your soldiers," Cage argued back. He was even more fit for this than Jazz and Trinx who lacked his healing abilities.

"That may be so, but there's thousands of them and only one of you. All it takes is one stray blade or arrow and it's all over."

"I know better than to--" Cage was stopped by the letter the general thrust at him.

It was from Edmund and the court in Valona who expressed their worry for his well being and his fate. In that moment, Cage was unpleasantly reminded that, should he fail, this entire skirmish war fell on his younger brother. A war which so far didn't abide by any of the classic rules.

Swearing under his breath all through it, he finally admitted defeat and stayed in camp. And it made him want to die.

Yes, he still set the strategy for all the squads and listened first hand to Jazz and Trix's reports, but not being in the midst of it killed him.

"You're not missing much," Jazz said one evening as he nursed a nasty cut on his shoulder. "The whole thing gets pretty repetitive after a while."

"And you think this is much more exciting?" Cage retaliated, walking over to him and placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. He forced the healing magic to seep through, but he was so frustrated that he wasn't focused enough to avert the wound from passing over to him.

"Stop that," Jazz said, jerking away. "I told you I don't need it healed."

"Shut up and take the help," Trix mumbled from his own corner. He too was covered in blood from head to toe, but he didn't appear injured at all.

"Who'd you absorb who was so grumpy?"

"I hate touching Endirians. Their heads are so complicated." Trix's voice sounded more like a growl.

Cage tilted his head. "Complicated how?"

"They're much blunter people, for one thing." Trix leaned back in his seat, massaging his eyes. "And they have so much hope in there. So many empty promises giving them drive. How can you kill someone like that?"

"I would hope they're filled with insane hope," Jazz said, his voice like a growl.

Cage didn't need to ask why that was. Insane hope was the only thing justifying Jinx's treason.

"Well, they are. I'm not sure how, but Kat managed to inspire each and every one of her soldiers."

"It's the magic," Cage said, and he wasn't even sure if he meant it as an esoteric force, or whether he believed Lucille had somehow managed to place a spell on the entire population.

Either way, Lucille was not in Iride, which was made clear by Leila's absence. Cage had to admit he was a little shocked that the fae still used that disguise around Kat instead of showing her true colors.

"There's something else," Trix said.

"I don't think we should get into that," Jazz mumbled.

Trix turned to his friend looking both tired and annoyed. "Why do you keep trying to protect him?"

"Because this isn't easy, Trix."

"It isn't easy for anyone."

"We don't have the responsibility for an entire kingdom on our shoulders, or that of a fairy war. We haven't had our feelings strangled--"

"Trix is right," Cage cut in. "This isn't easy for anyone. No one wants to go to war against magic with none of their own. You lost Jinx, Trix hasn't seen Allie in weeks..."

"It's not the same," Jazz said, his words distorted by anger. "We know what we have to do, the sacrifices we must make. You're still struggling with it. With your legacy, who you are and what you must do."

"You think I'm struggling with it?" Cage let out a humorless laugh. The thought was so unimportant, it was hilarious. "After the past few weeks, do you truly think I still give a shit whether this crown belongs to me or not? We're at war."

"You're at war, but as a leader of it, not a fighter within it," Jazz said, pointing at him. "That's what you don't get."

"I do get that. It's why I'm here and not out there with you." As much as he hated it.

"And it's also why he needs to know," Trix insisted.

Cage narrowed his eyes. "What's so bad that you want to protect me from it?"

"I don't want to protect you from anything," Trix said with a smirk.

"War crimes," Jazz interrupted, his tone blunt. "That's what I'm trying to protect you from."

The words brought a shiver down Cage's spine, but he kept his expression even. "From Endir?"

"From both sides." Jazz stood with a heavy sigh. "I've been in Iride for years, but mostly at sea. I knew about the hatred between Iride and Endir. But you can't really know until you see it."

Cage didn't like that at all. He kept his own soldiers in check, but just like when he was Admiral, he knew he couldn't directly control every one of his men. They'd done horrible things and only the power of his example had toned them down. He was aware it was the same in the army.

"How bad?" he asked. He didn't really want to know, but was too aware that he had to.

"Bad," Jazz said.

Trix decided to be a lot more graphic. "Corpses hanged, heads cut off and placed on top of spikes, evisceration, eyes gouged out..."

"On both sides?"

There was a second of hesitation before Trix finally said. "Yes, but it's different. Endir does the hanging and the spikes. Iride seems to prefer mutilation."

"Great," Cage growled. "That's just become forbidden and punishable by death."

"You can't kill your own soldiers," Jazz said with a huff.

"Watch me!"

"Cage..."

"This is inhumane. I won't condone it as king of Iride. We are not savages." His voice cracked because they were.

All men were monsters in times of war. They just pat themselves on the head that they were not, that it was justified. Killing enemies was. Torturing and maiming them was not.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you the specifics," Jazz said, his voice low. "You don't need this, too. This guilt over actions that you have no control over."

"What about the men in your squads?"

"We ordered them not to," Trix said. "But they don't listen. I caught two of mine sneaking out at night to take care of a few bodies. They claimed they wanted to strike fear in the hearts of their enemies."

"We are defending ourselves--"

"Exactly," Jazz said. "Iride is being invaded. Of course their hatred grows. If you take away the viciousness of your men, you're taking away their love for their kingdom, their drive to protect it by any means."

"It's what counters the hope of Endir," Trix added.

"You can't both be condoning this."

"We're not," Jazz said. "But we see why it's happening. Even if you forbid it, it will keep happening."

"I don't care that it will keep happening. I will still forbid it." But maybe not under penalty of death. Jazz was right about one thing. He couldn't afford to execute his own soldiers in the middle of war. "How's the outlook?"

"The army is spread out and it's hard to get into a more serious battle," Trix said. "It's mostly skirmishes."

Yeah, he'd gathered that, but he still hated it. "What about direction?"

"They're mostly heading south," Jazz said. "At least all the parties I ran into were."

South... Cage walked over to the map placed on the table in the center of the tent and glanced at it. He'd always suspected that Kat might head for Darkwood first to secure her father. The thought of Joshua Devieux was a thorn in his side. He was still in Valona and Cage wasn't sure if he should or could do anything that involved using him against his own daughter.

"I think she might be going home," he said, more to himself.

"She did express an interest in Sandrine," Trix said.

"I wonder how long it will take Talia to feel threatened," Jazz mumbled.

Yes, there was that issue as well. For the time being, Napoletta had sent Iride plans for new war machines which were currently in the production stages. The other Free Cities had expressed a general support, but had done nothin yet.

"I guess it depends on how fast winter comes to them as well." If Kat was smart, she would avoid enraging Annora and Talia and hide her presence within Iride until the winter.

"Did you let them know Iride was invaded?" Trix asked.

"Yes. But whether they believe it or not, I'm not sure. I can't know what their own spies are telling them. And without a direct clash between the armies... It would be hard for spies to catch a glimpse of an army sneaking through the underbrush."

They spent the following minutes in silence, Cage analyzing his map, Jazz and Trix relaxing after their latest battles. This frustrated him to no end, but he didn't have a solution. Old proven military tactics wouldn't work now.

"I think you should begin to practice fire magic," Jazz said all of a sudden.

Cage snapped out of his thoughts. "Can I actually do that?" He didn't deny that it would be useful against this endless winter.

"Magic doesn't have boundaries. Especially when it's not confined to a single curse," Jazz said with a shrug.

Cage could tell he was thinking about Jinx, but he let it slide. "Can you use fire?"

"No. But I also never tried to force myself to."

Cage glanced at his hand and clenched it into a fist. The violet lightning flickered across his skin. He had that, and it was very useful, just like his ability to hurl things around, but it wasn't enough. He did need fire.

"You guys don't really have an element."

"Us guys were never as frustrated as you," Trix pointed out. "Plus, I can steal any element from someone else."

Like he'd done with Jinx so that he could also use fire. And he was also right about Cage's frustration. He can remember very well how the lightning had found him. Charged with magic after his night with Kat, he'd seen it as the only possible release of the maddening energy inside him.

Now, he raised his hand and tried to summon a tiny flame in his palm. Nothing happened.

"It won't alight if you stare at it," Jazz said, sounding bored.

"Maybe you should try it, too," Cage mumbled, narrowing his eyes and trying harder to push his magic out.

"I can't summon fire," he retorted.

"He doesn't want to clash with Jinx," Trix elaborated. "And I've tried, but my curse prevents me from doing anything but stealing from others."

That made sense in that weird way magic seemed to work. It was a force, doing mostly what it wanted, limited only by the curses and blessings the fairies bestowed. In his case, magic ran rampant because his curse had been lifted, morphed into something which no longer set him limits.

He twisted his hand in the air, imagining strands of magic following his movement. A warmth settled underneath his skin, but it wouldn't come out. When he tried to push it, it burned him on the inside.

"Ouch." He winced and lowered his hand.

"Did you burn yourself?" Jazz asked with a smirk.

"On the inside, yes."

"As prolific as you've become, you still need practice to achieve something." Jazz nodded towards the would on Cage's shoulder. "You still need focus."

Yes, he did. He also needed patience. Because as it was, this silent war was going to be the end of him.

⚜⚜⚜

We are at war. But it's a special kind of war. A war driving poor Cage insane, especially since he needs to be protected from death. And Kat had a wonderful new strategy. I wonder where she learned that?

Since this was the long half of the chapter, the next part will be shorter. Rejoice! And thanks for reading.