The old Ranger watched her for a moment then shuffled with her, down into the depths of the castle. It was damp down there in the dark, reminding him more of mountain caves than of a man-made castle. There was an unsettling coolness permeating the air as they continued moving down through the common areas, past Rangers fixing weapons and trying to rest while they had a lull in battle.

 They reached the ground floor, and continued  still further down into damp cellars which were long since empty of their original uses. Foxes glanced at him for a moment, before leading him through a half hidden door and into the remnants of half forgotten dungeons.

He had thought they were as far down as they could go, looking at her as if she had gone mad for leading him to a dead end until she led him into a cell. Nathax watched her sceptically until she moved aside a fireplace that wasn't nearly as solid as he thought it was, leading him to another hidden entrance. She smirked to him, as if she had read his mind and the doubts within it before heading down the  stairs cut into the side of the cliff itself.

 He was panting and his legs were aching as they descended into the rocks, hearing the ocean swelling up closer and closer. The water seemed to drip off the very stone, soaking him to the bone until he stumbled onto a soft sand beach in a hidden lagoon. He frowned when he saw the  two long boats that must have been recently arrived, as if this was the plan the entire time.

"There's a ship, the Maria, waiting to carry you to Lansen. There you'll join up with the army and tell the Queen about what has happened so far. The Captain's name is Denzlin, tell him Foxes is staying behind and he will understand. He'll be expecting you and you can trust him." She had been looking out to sea, turning to peer at him with those hard green eyes of hers. " The Queen, Nathax. No one else. Also, tell her that I don't think Sellexu is the darkness we feared, there's hope left in the world. But I'll know more when I come back."

"How many am I leaving with you?" He asked softly, staring at the boats, big enough to carry his whole section of Rangers but he was already trying to figure out who he'd leave behind.

"No one."  She glared at him before he could say a word. "If I don't make it back, then I was wrong and there's no turning back from that. You guys must fight these bastards with everything you've got, in the plains of Lansen." 

Foxes started back up the stairs, leaving him gaping behind her for several seconds before he rushed back after her. He cursed as he tried to catch up to her, his mind starting to put together the puzzle she had presented.

 A force of so few people, led by an unlikely commander, a mysterious Royal diplomat. It was sounding like the woman was on some sort of suicide mission, which didn't sit well with his training or sensibilities.

"Let me give this message to someone else. Arsel, or Leam. I will stay with you. I can't abandon you to a hoard of Sellexun." Nathax growled stubbornly, his breath coming out a little rougher than he'd like by the time he found her in the cell, pacing after her. "Rangers don't leave anyone behind, M'lady."

"I'm Foxes, Nathax, don't look at me as a noble or anyone of note. And I told you when we started this that you and your Rangers aren't being asked to sacrifice yourself for this cause. That wasn't the point of this. This is the mission and why only one of me came, when we could have used so many more if we had wanted to win here."

"It would take an idiot to believe you weren't anyone of note, Foxes." Nathax glared at her as he trudged up the stairs behind her. "I am sorely pressed to allow myself to follow the cause of a Regent who would throw any life away, let alone one of her representatives. Why battle at all? If you think there's hope, why are we allowing them to walk into Aupana?"

"Good. Cause Queen Rael would not sacrifice my life and I don't plan on being thrown anywhere." Foxes grinned to him. "I have a plan."

***

Bless him, he argued with her the whole way back up and even after he barked commands for his section to get down to the boats. Whenever they weren't in earshot of anyone else, he was grumbling and coming up with some other plan of action, pacing angrily behind her as she walked through the castle, ensuring all the Rangers were capable of leaving.

Foxes smiled at Nathax but didn't give any ground, even when five Rangers remained after the others had started their descent. They were all the leaders,  standing around her and agreeing with Nathax, trying to volunteer to stay behind. It warmed her heart and reminded her of the best thoughts of home, even in this dreary castle that seemed closer to Sellexu than it did to Aupana.

None of them asked her to just come with them, though. They understood that much at least, that there was something else in the works that she needed to be here for, even if they couldn't see it. They would have stayed and fought for that cause, if only because she did and that sort of responsibility chilled her to the core. 

It was easy to risk her own neck but the thought of other lives on the line really gave her pause to rethink the wisdom of her actions and the drive of that force that moved her forward. But in the end, she closed the hidden cell behind their receding backs, pulling her hood up and rushing back up into the castle as she heard the battle sounds of trumpets and war machines moving forward. 

Foxes hadn't been given much wiggle room, meaning High Lord Shiar was smarter than the other Lordlings who had attacked previously. The man had obviously seen the Rangers drawing back and instead of waiting for an explanation sought to push his advantage.

After a brief look out over the ramparts, seeing the battering ram being lugged up to the gate, Foxes headed back down into the common square, cracking her neck and settling to wait for them to break down the doors. 

She stood easily with her back to the door that led down into the basement, silently counting the seconds and calculating how much time the Rangers would need to get safely out to sea. Foxes imagined she could hear the thundering waves below her and the clattering of feet as they made their way to the boats and out into the waters of the bay. Her Rangers would be safe, cloaked in shadows and hidden in plain sight from an army hell bent on gaining the walls of a castle. 

Foxes tried to clear her mind, focusing on her breathing as she noticed the smells of smoke, dampness and metal surrounding her. She braced herself as the sound of the ram vibrated along the walls and into her feet. She had hope, but she also realized that the world wasn't a place that fostered dreams and fairy tales very easily, so she settled back and pulled out her swords, waiting for the oncoming battle.

***

When he saw the Aupanan forces pulling back from the ramparts and disappearing down into the castle, he had imagined that they were going to surrender or try to flee or possibly both. Maybe their mysteriously cloaked Diplomat, or whatever she really was, had changed her tune or the owl had commanded her to. There were so many possibilities that he had even hesitated longer than he should, waiting for a flag or something to signify that this wasn't going to end in the useless deaths of their adversaries. Not that he knew when he had begun to care about their well being.

He had felt that she was wanting something other than war, saw in those brilliant green eyes a sort of thoughtful intelligence that was begging him to agree to a truce that had confused him and gave him a stirring of hope. But then she had refused to give ground and forced him to rally for battle, leaving him frustrated by the double meaning behind what they were doing. It seemed to him as if Aupana really wasn't concerned with holding the pass in the first place.

He had settled his mind into the thought of having to control his men from pursuing them too voraciously, ordering that prisoners be taken and quarter be given in the hopes that there could be some roads to peace if the violence didn't get out of hand. That tiny flame of hope burned in him, from his childhood and the lessons from his father and rekindled brighter from the woman's odd words. But the gates never opened and the castle had gone silent, long after that owl had flown back out the window and away from the pass.

High Lord Shiar ordered up his ram and had his archers stationed to protect against an ambush, concluding that they would be making one last stand in the castle itself, having been commanded to fight on despite being well out of food  and with no hope of resupply. 

Dying in battle is so much easier than starving to death, he was sure. He ordered his men to take as many prisoners as possible once more and reiterated the White cloaked diplomat was not to be killed unless completely unavoidable. He sat astride his horse, glaring at the damned stupid castle, watching as the ram battered against the heavy wood doors mercilessly. 

Shiar admired the craftsmanship that allowed the castle to hold on, after centuries of neglect but still smiled with triumph as the door finally gave way and the gates were raised by his men, opening into an eerily silent keep.

Initially there wasn't a sound made from within as his soldiers streamed in silently. There was no twang of bows or creak of leather that he could detect. His eyes scanned the battlements for movement that wasn't there. No yells of attack or clash of metal. 

And then, the sounds erupted, bringing the clash of weapons and yells of fighting echoing out towards him. Battle, finally.

Shiar rode up hard when he heard the noises, knowing that the battle would be a tight one in so close quarters. But he was not the kind of commander who would expect his men to fight as he stood back to watch, preparing himself for a pitched battle against desperate fighters.

Pulling up outside the gates, he jumped from his horse and ran into the castle, frowning as he made his way through to the front of his men. Only, it wasn't a holed-up group of twenty something light troops that they faced.

 It was one brilliant flash of white cloak and metal weapons, parrying and blocking and disabling the fighters without trying to kill them or even wound them seriously. She spun and kicked and held them back, as if sparring, or playing a game against lesser trained students until he let out a yell, drawing his sword. He strode forward as his men headed his command and fell back, his soldiers looking as confused as he was. The Diplomat spun her blades easily, allowing herself a moment's rest as he stepped forwards.

Finally, they two of them were left facing off against one another, her in her white leather and light metal armour, two thin swords held easily at the ready. Shiar with his heavier armour and longer bastard sword, coupled with his short sword. Each one of them taking the moment to take stock of their opponent, as if they had all the time in the world for a casual sparring match.

"Where are your men?" He bellowed at her, frustrated, despite knowing she couldn't understand. "Why did you stay if they left?"

Suddenly, as if having read his thoughts, his translator was there behind him, yelling at her in her own language. She laughed as she danced a little, spinning her swords and throwing back a response as she danced from foot to foot. 

Her eyes flashed with dangerous amusement, her tone counterintuitive to her dire situation. "Sellexu wanted a fight. Aupana wants to talk."

Shiar motioned to the men around them with his small blade, signalling for them to back off further, then looked back to her with curiosity. "You have safe passage to talk."

His man at arms, Jarnel took both the gesture and his words as an order and started barking at the soldiers to leave. The small castle main square emptied but for half a dozen of his own trusted men. 

There was a tense silence as Shiar watched the woman, unsure if he had made the right decision, having seen her handling herself admirably with double the men now left behind in the square. 

The Diplomat glanced around one last time, as if gauging all this, before muttering something. Her surrender was quick and almost uncharacteristic of his expectations, sheathing her swords without any further hesitation before holding up her hands.

Shiar motioned for his men to move in and two of them stepped up quickly, one grabbing her wrists as the second one started pulling weapons off of her and tossing them to the ground, making an impressive pile by the time they were through. 

 Besides the two swords, they found several daggers, a cross bow and five throwing knives. She stood passively at their search before  following the soldiers into a smaller room off to the side of the castle square that his men had cleared for use.

 Shiar's men made quick work of tying her hands behind her back as she was forcibly sat down on a chair, her white cloak taken off of her and put on a table across the room. After a moment's thought, he ordered the red scarf that covered her mouth the last time they spoke removed from its resting point around her throat, to join the cloak. 

He left her there for the moment, posting Jarnel on the inside of the door to watch the small female diplomat who called herself "Foxes" and claimed to speak for her Regent while he took stock of the situation.