One  for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for  silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told, eight's a  kiss, nine's a wish, ten's a bird you should never miss.
- Unknown

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- Cephas -

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Barefoot, the woman stood before me. Her dress was dirty. The blubbery, swollen eyelids were downcast. Her trembling, quivering body knelt on the ice-cold floor.

I leaned back in my throne. "Again. How can it be that one of my most honorable spies has not returned from his journey?"

The woman began to cry. Almost silently. Her shoulders jerked up and down. Weakly.

"Answer me," I demanded.

"I-I don't know, H-Holy King Cephas Dever-"

"Stop," I interrupted. "Because of you, I'm just wasting more time. If you're hiding anything from me, I'll have your children beheaded in front of you."

"I'm not hiding anything," she continued to cry.

I grimaced. "I'm afraid that didn't convince me. Bring them in."

"What?" she groaned breathlessly. I looked with delight into her dark eyes, wide with terror.

A door to the side of me was opened and two little boys were pushed in. But I hardly paid any attention to them. I only saw the woman who freely presented her horror in her eyes to me. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Annoyed, I stood up and slowly walked towards her children. "Hmm," I made. "Which one of you do you think your mommy loves more?"

"No, please!" the woman behind me began to yell, at which point I turned back around expectantly. "So?"

"I don't know anything about anything. I have no idea where my husband is. By God, I swear! But I'm sure I can find out something. Let them go and I'll get some information, I can-" She choked on her own words, stared at my face and became even more frantic. "I swear it, I don't know anything! I don't know anything!"

Pityingly, I looked at her. Hope flashed in her eyes.

"That still didn't convince me."

I waved my hand and took a step to the side as the head of some one of her children was cut off behind me. The head rolled down the stairs with muffled sounds. Concerned, I looked down, but my cloak had not been splattered with blood.

"No!" Thewoman's horrible scream rang throughout the hall. The other boy was screaming like a banshee, so much so that I wanted to wave my hand again.

"The other one stays here. Your husband can pick him up when he returns. That's my final offer," I generously shared.

Their screaming and howling hurt my ears.

I sat back in my throne. "Away," I demanded, whereupon my guards carried the flailing, shrieking hag outside and dragged the boy back into the dungeon. Two others began to dispose the body and to mop the floor.

For a moment, I considered having the witch summoned. But then I decided to check on our latest plans with my own eyes rather than have him report back to me. So I rose.

The long robe almost touched the freshly cleaned, shiny marble floor of the throne room. Perhaps I did not need to worry about the spy. I had never let him in on anything important. He knew nothing of my plans.

In the dungeons, I passed through five separate guard posts until I reached the research area. The witch Xerxa stood in the dimly lit hallway, peering into a cell, then slowly turned her head toward me. Her buff, white skin contrasted markedly with her completely jet-black eyes.

"Holy King Cephas," she greeted me and bowed to me. I stepped beside her and peered into the cell. "Is there any good news, Xerxa?"

"Yes and no," she answered in a hesitant, low voice. "The skeletons are not coming to life. No matter how many strong witches I sacrifice. Besides, we don't have enough people with strong magical abilities yet. Haven't sacrificed or kidnapped enough blue blood yet."

Angrily, I bit my teeth. I would certainly have to send out more troops. The only successful project so far had been the Wendigos. Driven by anger, I paced back and forth, then strode to the cells of the prisoners who were soon to be transformed. I stared inside for a long time to remind myself that we had accomplished anything at all. A sickening stench assailed my nostrils.

"Xerxa, what else is there to report?", I then asked.

"I have found a way to get to it," she replied.

"Truly?", I wanted to know. Finally. "How?"

"Better not here. The walls have ears, King Cephas."

I stared at the witch as she opened the cell door. Then she raised her hands. A naked corpse from across the room floated across the room, right into the cell. Then the door closed again. "After about six days, there is no need for coercion," she explained tersely.

Until recently, I had believed we had to force prisoners to eat raw human flesh for at least eight days until we could transform them with dark magic.

I ignored the growling, smacking sounds from inside the cell.

"Then we will begin the journey tomorrow," I decided. "With the wind snakes, we can be in the summit area in... seven days."

Grimly, I smiled. When I had it, I could finally prevail over all other kingdoms. Then only one man would be allowed to rightfully call himself king. Me.

It was destined for me alone to rule this land. I had been chosen in the name of the higher powers. Now I only had to fulfill this destiny and bring the world back into balance.

-----❅-----

- Victorine -

-----❅-----

My hands trembled with effort and fatigue. For hours I had helped the villagers treat the injured.

We had stopped heavy bleedings, cleaned and stitched open wounds, splinted broken bones, assigned and posted guards. Set up warning torches with fire in the village square and all around, fetched water from the river, brought in food. Buried bodies.

I did everything in my power to help, but I could not talk to anyone in the process.

When such shock and grief overtook a person, all it took was a tiny eye contact and their spirit leapt. All it took was a tiny crack on a tiny thin slab of ice.

Since I didn't want to look anyone in the eye, I couldn't really talk to anyone. After a short time, no one had tried and my silence was very quickly accepted.

That was the reason I flinched in fright when someone addressed me.

"Royal Highness Victorine," a familiar voice came forward from behind me. It was head soldier Tryphosa. Although she had helped us carry the bodies to the small cemetery in the forest and had probably been busy elsewhere before that, she did not look tired at all, but strong and composed.

Her short brown hair blew lightly in the wind. Dark eyes were fixed on the full bucket of water between my hands, which I was dragging across the village square.

"I am here to suggest that you get some sleep. All the work is done, we can help no further." She looked around slowly, her gaze drifting to the woods and then up to the dark, star-filled sky.

Of course, I knew that some sleep would be very reasonable right now, however, I doubted that I would be able to fall asleep. Since Cepha's attack on Spero, I had lost loved ones and seen so many die. It only reminded me more that I had to give everything I had to save at least Crescentia.

I tried to push away the thought of my dead parents or my sister in mortal danger, but here in this bloodstained village square it suddenly seemed almost impossible. The blood of innocents was everywhere.

Sudden feelings of anger overcame me and I threw the water bucket on the floor. I almost wanted to kick it away, but then I remembered the sleeping villagers. The clinking sound echoed into the night, the water washing away a tiny part of the blood.

I felt Tryphosa's gaze on me, but she remained wordless. I stared at the bucket for a few seconds, then picked it up and put it back on the floor. "I'm going to sleep now," I then said and turned back.

But at the last moment the head soldier stopped me. "Highness Victorine, if I am allowed to say, it was very unreasonable and stupid to just jump right into the fight. You and your information are really important."

Angrily, I scrunched my eyebrows together and opened my mouth, but she beat me to it.

"But it was also very brave. You fought well and saved many lives today. If we complete our mission, then maybe we can save the entire country with and thanks to you."

Surprised, I looked into her dark eyes, captured her serious, scarred face. The face of a soldier. Finally, I nodded with a weak smile. "Good night, Tryphosa."

Then I walked along the uneven paths until, after a short time, I arrived at the barn on the outskirts of town. The village chief had offered us more comfortable places to stay, but here our troop could stay together. Further, we did not want to cause any trouble after the terrible attack.

Nicolas sat leaning against the barn wall next to the closed front door, staring into the camp fire, which crackled pleasantly in the night silence, sending beautiful sparks of fire up into the air.

"There you are", he remarked dryly, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the wood behind him. "You can go to sleep, Tryphosa and I will keep watch."

"Where is Deidamia? Or the other dragons?", I asked in a hushed voice, looking around.

"Flown into the woods and haven't returned for hours. Difficult foraging probably," Nicolas guessed.

I took the chance to look at him. A few strands of his dark hair hung in his forehead, the fire cast a warm glow of light on his face. For a moment, with his eyes closed, sitting on the dirty floor and leaning against a barn wall, he almost looked like a normal man.

"Fire powers, then," I then commented in a tone as casual as possible. Instantly, the king opened his eyes and looked at me suspiciously. Of course, he had known directly that I was curious.

"Among other things," he replied, "but if you want to talk now, it's about you. Why are you so egoistically willing to condemn an entire country to its doom just so you can save your sister?"

"I do no such thing," I objected angrily, crossing my arms defensively in front of my chest. "My equal goal is to overthrow Cephas."

"And if you had to choose one of those goals? Sooner or later it might come to that."

For a moment I stared at him, wondering what the honest answer to that question would be. I didn't know. How was I to know such a thing? It was my dearly beloved sister. And it was a country full of people.

"Your damn heart is bigger than your puny brain," the king interrupted my train of thought in an exhausted voice, as if he had just lost the last hope in me.

He was probably right. That was exactly the reason why I could never become a queen.

I closed my eyes and thought of my mother. Even if I had been the firstborn, I was not suited to lead a country like she did. I was selfish and egoistic and loved too much. I had no protective abilities like her. All I could do was spy on the most intimate part of a person.

Sometimes those who don't really want to should rule, my mother's murmuring voice echoed through my head.

I opened my eyes and looked at Nicolas. He looked as if he was sleeping, yet I knew he was observing his surroundings with all his other senses.

His parents had been murdered, he had no siblings. How old had he been at the coronation four years ago? Nineteen? Twenty? That was astonishingly young.

Most kings were crowned in their thirties or fourties. My brother was twenty-six. I wonder how he was doing right now as the only remaining royal family member on Spero. I wonder how the villagers were doing.

Perhaps he had written all this in the scroll that Nicolas had read. Frustrated, I rubbed my overstrained eyes. I was too proud to ask him for the information.

After sighing deeply and breathing all the air out of my lungs, I felt sudden fatigue overtake me. All the limbs of my body felt heavy. I wished Nicolas a good night and then quietly opened the barn door.

As I entered, deep darkness enveloped me, as well as the smell of hay and the sound of a soldier snoring loud as hell. After my eyes had adjusted to the light conditions, I braved around and made myself comfortable in the farthest corner.

Despite my tiredness, I still lay there with my eyes open, feeling deep loneliness without Deidamia's presence.

At some point I must have fallen asleep anyway. When I woke up the next morning, I enjoyed the relaxation and inertia of my body for a moment. A few seconds later I opened my eyes in surprise. I had not been awakened for watch. Rays of sunlight fell through the gaps in the wooden walls and I guessed that it must be late in the morning.

The other sleeping places were deserted and empty. I was sure that they would have taken off without me if they had known the final destination. I used the undisturbed time to take a look at the map. So far I had suppressed the thought, but now at the latest I would have to deal with an impending problem. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow we would have to cross the Fluxus Profundum, one of the widest and deepest rivers in the country.

Humans were strictly forbidden to cross it. Behind it followed vast, untouched, magical lands without kingdoms and the sacred mountains behind which were the borders of the next land. When we passed the Fluxus Profundum, we would have much of the way behind us.

Finally, I changed clothes, pocketed the map, and left the barn, where I met only two other soldiers. Before going to look for Nicolas, I made my way to the small village river. Depressed, I stared at the still bloody spots and wished it would start raining soon.

At the river, I wandered along the bank for a bit, away from the sad faces and crying voices of the villagers. Then I settled down to get rid of my armor and to wash myself. After a short while I heard the beating of wings and greeted Deidamia delightedly, who then cooled herself in the river water.

I got the urge to lie down in the sun and enjoy this moment with her, just for a moment. But I couldn't. My sister was in danger and time was running out anyway.

After a short search, I found Nicolas training in the forest with Orestes, head soldier Tryhosa, and two other soldiers. The clash of sword blades could be heard from afar.

Leaning against a tree, I watched the king until, after a few seconds, he sheathed his sword and walked casually toward me.

"I must speak with you", I opened my request, by which time he had not even removed his helmet. "Then speak", he ordered curtly, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"We will have to cross Fluxus Profundum", I then said. "For that we will need a ship or several seaworthy boats."

With slightly narrowed eyebrows, the king nodded. "I have a plan, don't worry about it. Have the dragons appeared?"

"Yes, about ten minutes ago," I replied.

"Very good. Our traveling gear is already packed up. We are ready to leave."