How do you destroy a monster without becoming one?
- Unknown

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- Nicolas -

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I could do nothing but watch Victorine's back. Of course, I would rather concentrate on slaughtering Cephas' soldiers. But the king's daughter was running around in a possessed frenzy to protect the villagers.

I had a slight suspicion that she would threaten me with her sword if I tried to stop her. So, together with Tryphosa, I held the soldiers off her, the battlefield emptying more and more as the enemy soldiers had clearly been outnumbered and were now falling one by one. Even the villagers had finally made it away, supporting and carrying the injured.

I had been in quite a few wars. That was probably why I didn't pay much attention to the corpses at my feet. Victorine, however, paced around to look at the people on the ground and check to see if anyone was still breathing. I, on the other hand, paced around to stab Cepha's soldiers once more through the neck, just to be on the safe side, and to guarantee their death. I truly did not need a surprise attack from behind.

Tryphosa stepped toward me and pulled her helmet off her head. She wiped shiny sweat from her brow and ran it through her short hair that stuck to her head. "What do we do now, King Nicolas?"

I turned my gaze to the castle walls and Cepha's kingdom, which loomed ominously in the distance. What to make of Victorine's warning, I did not know. Were the armies of Cephas really insurmountable? Did I not even have the slightest chance?

But if I did not overthrow Cephas today, I would never be able to do it. My chances were getting slimmer and slimmer with each passing minute if his witch really was summoning deadly creatures incessantly.

I had no time for further delay. No time for doubt. I had spent years preparing for this day. For years I had made war plans, worked out strategies, trained troops. For many dark nights I had known that the only way to free my soul was to kill Cephas. The memories of the murder of my parents had been bearable only because they were always accompanied by ideas about Cephas' death. The two were linked by fate and could not be separated.

I was not a good person. Especially compared to Victorine. When I looked at her, everything about her reminded me of light and hope. She did everything to protect her loved ones and to protect innocent people. She wanted to save the world, while I only wanted my own salvation. My own liberation.

Victorine went to this war to save other people. I went to this war knowing that all the men and women behind me would die. I had always accepted that fact. And nothing about that had changed.

While my army would distract Cephas' soldiers and armies of deadly creatures, I would sneak into the castle and kill Cephas. My soldiers were nothing but a distraction. They were like slaughter cattle that I sent out there to keep the butchers busy for just a brief moment. They were only to stay alive until I could cut off Cephas' head.

I didn't know what Victorine saw in me. But I was certainly not a person who cared that my soldiers might all die. No. That person had died when Cephas had taken everything from me in a single night.

Rarely did I even clearly realize what a terrible person I had become. Each of those few times had always happened in comparison to Victorine.

My eyes fell on the King's daughter squatting in front of a corpse, taking two of her fingers from the person's neck and carotid artery. As she straightened up, she gritted her teeth and clenched her hands into fists. I did not understand. Cephas had taken almost everything from her in a single night, too. And yet her instinct to save others had always been greater than the desperate desire of her own liberation.

Sometimes she made me sick.

But more often still, I needed her. As if she were the only light in my life.

And probably she was.

"You know what we do now," I finally answered Tryphosa's question. "We are doing what our destiny has prescribed for us."

I ignored her probing look into my eyes. Slowly, I turned around and caught sight of the witch standing in her deceptively beautiful body next to the two giant ravens, her serious gaze turned toward the direction of Cepha's castle.

The king's daughter, who had approached the witch, grabbed her arm with a strangely familiar gesture. "You saved people, Hekate," I could hear her speak in a warm voice.

The witch looked at Victorine silently for a few seconds. Her look still seemed serious, but apparently she was also a little puzzled by the few words I didn't know what their meaning was. What Victorine was trying to say. What had happened between the two of them. Why it was so amazing and gratifying that Hekate had done this.

I watched as a very slight, barely noticeable smile settled on the witch's lips. "You're right," she finally replied.

Resolutely, I turned away from the sight. I needed to focus on what was right in front of me. Briskly, I passed on various instructions to my soldiers. To help the injured back to their feet. To leave the dead lying. To take the weapons in their hands and get ready.

It didn't take long before everyone was ready to fight again. I trusted that each one was in his prescribed position. The archers behind the melee fighters. The dragon riders who would fly overhead spread out. The fighters on horseback in front. And my most familiar group with Tryphosa and Orestes at the very front.

I didn't have to worry about perishing at the very front the fastest. For years I had studied Cephas and his ways of thinking. I had studied him. He had ordered his soldiers not to kill me, but only to capture me so he could kill me himself. In the front, I was probably a thousand times safer than hidden in the back.

Furthermore, I was aware that Cephas would not send his entire army towards us right at the beginning. Then the fight would be over much too fast.

No, he wanted to see us hope and suffer. He would inflict pain on his enemies as long as possible and not just end our lives quickly. As long as possible he would demonstrate his power to us.

My theory was confirmed as we passed the high stone walls and carefully and cautiously walked through the village, which seemed to be deserted. I looked around to my side and was briefly surprised that Victorine was not standing next to me. As if I had forgotten that she had gone to join her brother and her own army. So loyal to represent and protect the kingdom of her murdered parents, perhaps even with her own life.

I looked ahead again, slowed down, and raised my sword a few more inches. It was so dead silent that I thought I could hear my heartbeat and a roaring in my ears. It was almost eerie how quiet it was.

Finally, I turned and looked up at the dragon riders flying overhead. I signaled some of them with hand signals to fly ahead. The huge, powerful dragons were gripped tighter by the ropes around their mouths and pulled until they started moving unruly and passed us at a throttled speed.

Cautiously, we continued to creep along the uneven path past the small, dilapidated huts. Doors stood open. Clothes, toys and other items lay abandoned on the dirty, earthy ground.

We had overcome Cepha's first army. Now it was the turn of the others.

Suddenly, a loud, inhuman roar was heard. It was the agonizing sound I had heard only once before in my life. From Victorine's dying dragon, Deidamia, when it had sacrificed itself for her.

Above us, the dragon riders were retreating. One of the dragons was half on fire, dragging itself and its screaming rider forward with a single remaining wing. Then it crashed and hit the ground in front of us.

Fortunately unhurt and unscathed, we recoiled, while the dragon before us continued to shriek with a shuddering howl. The rider on him had become silent. It stank terribly of burnt, charred flesh.

Cautiously we approached and paced around the dragon. With eyes wide open, breathing heavily, and its body still burning, it looked up at us. Tryphosa next to me took a few steps forward and gave the creature the coup de grace with her sword.

We continued to walk forward toward the castle. Finally, people appeared at the end of my field of vision. An army of soldiers in armor. As far as my eyes could see. I recognized weapons of all types and designs aimed at us, and yet no one fired at us or charged.

One man in the front center stood out in particular. His armor was blacker and appeared thicker than the other soldiers'. He did not even have his sword drawn.

We approached them a little way, but still kept a wide distance from each other. Without my command, none of my archers would shoot. I first wanted to know what else the soldier clearly had to tell me. Perhaps he could reveal important information to me, even if unconsciously.

"King Nicolas," the leader of the army now raised his voice.

I ignored the fact that he was treating me so disrespectfully and not calling me by my full name. My hand was firmly on the hilt of my sword as I looked wordlessly into his almost completely metal-covered face.

There was almost complete silence for a few seconds until the soldier finally continued speaking. "This fight will be futile. If you come with us, Our Holiness King Cephas Devereux Pharoah of Vitruvius will spare the rest of your army."

Lie. He would take me into custody so I wouldn't accidentally perish in the fight and then calmly slaughter the people behind me. Probably one of his armies had already positioned itself at the beginning of the village to wait for us if we tried to escape. We were trapped. And yet right where I needed to be.

Of course, I would not take the man's suggestion. That way he would be able to deliver me to Cephas in any case, take no risk, and have less trouble.

"You know he's lying, don't you?", I suddenly heard a soft voice from my left. The king's daughter apparently had approached me quietly. I looked over at Victorine, whose gaze, however, was not on me but on the eyes of our counterpart.

Perfect. Victorine had looked into his eyes. Hopefully she had been able to figure out enough.

"Yes," I replied just as quietly. And yet this was my contingency plan. If I couldn't sneak up to Cephas, then I would be caught and brought to him. In that case, however, it would prove to be a lot more difficult to kill him.

"Your king does not take part in the battle, I see?", I asked the leader now with a provocative tone and cast an inconspicuous glance towards the sky, where the uninjured dragon riders had positioned themselves above us.

The leader, however, did not answer my question. Too bad he wasn't foolish enough to hint anything about Cepha's whereabouts.

"This decision will be your downfall," the leader commented on the fact that I did not turn myself over to him.

Slowly, I drew my sword. The soldier was wrong. Only my own death would be my final downfall.

The air vibrated with tension. Then the enemy soldiers began to roar. They drew their swords and charged forward.

I put my head to the left, then to the right, stretching my neck. "Attack," I finally spoke, whereupon I extended my left arm to the side to prevent Victorine from running forward.

Barrels fell from the sky, hitting right in front of the army rushing towards us, bringing some of the soldiers to the ground, and more importantly, spreading the alcohol on the ground that had been stored in them.

In the brief moment when the soldiers recoiled, the dragons swooped down, spitting flames and setting the entire area on fire.

While some of the soldiers ran through the flames and others took a detour, we retreated between the houses of the village. Tryphosa and Orestes shielded me from the front and back, while we took cover in the narrow streets. I didn't know where Victorine had disappeared to, but I didn't have time to worry about that.

I had to kill the leader. He would come after me and only stop when he was either dead or had found me. Only when he was eliminated would I have a chance to sneak back to the castle.

Thinking back, I remembered seeing him get hit by one of the barrels. But that and the fire would surely not stop him for long. He was probably already looking for me at that very moment.

"Watch out," Orestes suddenly whispered in front of me, stopping and peering cautiously around a corner of a house. "Get back," he then hissed softly, turning and pushing us back. Tryphosa reached to his right, opened an unstable-looking house door as quietly as possible, and entered with his gun drawn. Slowly I entered as well, followed by Orestes.

I could only trust that the two of them would always remain loyal to me and Sanguis. For some time I had been separated from them after the witches had carried me off to their nest. I could not know what exactly had happened during that time. If either of them wanted to strike me down and deliver me to Cephas, now was the perfect time to do it.

We had entered a living room with barely any light coming in through the only window. There were things scattered all over the floor in the small room, as if people had been dragged out of here by force. I listened, but could hear nothing except our breathing and the distant sounds of battle.

Cautiously, we checked the tiny two adjoining rooms and only then could we be sure we were truly alone.

"Was Victorine wrong about Cepha's huge army?" whispered Tryphosa now, sidling up to the window and peering out cautiously.

"I hope not," I replied, taking advantage of the moment to check my equipment and weapons. Everything seemed intact and complete.

"I hope not?" repeated Orestes incredulously. He took off his helmet to wipe the sweat from his face and then pulled it back over his wet, fair hair.

"A huge army would not be a disadvantage, but an advantage. Only with it would Cephas feel safe enough to be careless," I explained quietly. "Right now, though, we have to kill the leader first. And then fight our way to the castle."

I knew this was easier said than done. But it was not the right time to allow doubt and panic. We had to stay cold and focused and not let our fear paralyze us.

Suddenly, it seemed as if I heard the distant sound of footsteps. Tryphosa crept crouched over to the only window and listened while Orestes and I slowly walked backwards to one of the adjoining rooms each. The footsteps grew louder. The stomping gave me the feeling that the footsteps were coming from clumsy soldiers, not the well-trained ones of my own ranks.

"Search every single filthy hut," I could hear the leader's voice, but it sounded rough, as if he was suppressing a cough with every word. As if fiery, stuffy smoke still hung in his throat.

Tryphosa turned her head towards us and with two fingers, symbolized us to step further into the side rooms and look for a hiding place. From the sounds of footsteps, I estimated that there were at least five men. What was Tryphosa going to do? Hold them off by herself as long as she could? Give me a chance to get out of here?

No. Tryphosa was too good a soldier to lose so soon. I needed her to get me as far ahead to the castle as possible. So I shook my head and used hand signals to tell her to join me in the room.

Carefully she crept over to me, whereupon I closed the door as quietly as possible behind us. All light was now stifled and we stood as still as possible in the small room, most of which was occupied by a bed, while Orestes was next to us in the other room.

As quietly as possible, I pushed Tryphosa next to me and placed myself behind the door, my hands against the uneven wood. My vision slowly adjusted to the darkness and I stared at my almost trembling fingers. For several terribly long minutes we listened, trying to keep our breathing as steady as possible.

When we heard the front door burst open, I glanced at Tryphosa, who had already drawn her deadly gleaming blade.