Iciz flew right above Lianne " You have three hours to search before I am to prepare you to ride out with the king and his commanders." He said blankly, his face void of expression before flying away.

Go to hell Iciz 

Lianne mentally snarled before she dropped to her knees amidst the battlefield, there were so many bodies. It would take her longer than three hours to find Casper.

She was so tired, her tears had run dry, and now only heavy exhaustion remained, chilling her bones.

"Lianne" 

Lianne immediately lifted her head to listen, her entire body seizing in anticipation. 

"Lianne, please" a voice groaned somewhere amidst the bodies.

She looked through the corpses, and her heart stopped when she saw a familiar-looking winged helmet,  discarded in a pool of blood...

She instantly reached down and grabbed it "Casper! Don't you dare stop fighting, I'm coming," Lianne shouted, hoping he would hear her.

"Lianne" someone whispered, it's voice quivering in suffering making barely audible.

Lianne frantically looked again, she wasn't hearing things, someone was calling her.

And there, covered by two dead men, a hand twitched. Lianne immediately dragged the bodies off one by one, panting with effort at their dead weight. She gasped as the weight toppled over her, she wasn't a tall woman at five feet and five inches but these men were titans!

The minute she removed the last body, she gasped in horror at what met her sight, forever burning the image inside her mind.

Casper lay on the bloodied mud, blue-grey eyes dazed over in pain and his dark hair was blood-smeared, but that's not what made her gasp.

No, it was the wounds.

Claw marks raked down the left side of his face and a spearhead was embedded in his chest, his usual golden skin was deathly pale. And his right leg looked like it had been mauled by a bear.

"Ahh, they got me good didn't they," Casper uttered in a breathy, weak voice and gave her a weak smile. "but-... I gave us today's victory," Lianne's heart broke at the pride so evident in his eyes, the only emotion that had managed to break through his pain.

"Oh Casper, they all just left you!" Lianne growled as she began examining his wounds carefully, she would have to carry him to better lighting before she even attempted removing that spearhead.

Casper nodded slowly " It is the Aquiline way..." he said hoarsely

"Screw the Aquiline way, and don't you dare stop fighting Casper!" Lianne said while lightly slapping Casper across his good cheek, this woke him from the sleep, which seemed to whisper lovingly to him.

"Casper, I apologize for what I have to do...truly," 

Before Casper could even begin to register what she'd said, Lianne gripped him from behind and began dragging him towards the looming black tent which stood a good running distance away.

Casper gave an agonized scream-- that would forever haunt her-- as his leg dragged against the dirt, it was agony to watch and Lianne tried to hurry, to end this as quickly as possible. 

" I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" Lianne kept saying, nearly sobbing,  as Casper screamed through clenched teeth while his eyes widened in a desperate panic, a hair length from wailing in his pain.

"SOREN! ICIZ! ANYONE!!" Lianne screamed desperately once she thought she was within earshot, yet no one came.

Then desperately, knowing deep within he'd come, she screamed again, "ROMAN!" Lianne finally resorted to screaming his name. Almost immediately she saw dark wings in the night sky descending rapidly, and then he landed before her in a gush of wind that blew her long hair every which way.

"What do you need dol-" Roman stopped midsentence, taking in the scene before him, Lianne clutching a semi-conscious Casper "please Roman, he's lost a lot of blood and I need proper lighting to do anything about his wounds,"  Lianne begged before continuing, " And before you say anything, I just need you to understand, I don't give two shits about the Aquiline way, fly him to the tent, I'm begg-" 

Roman cut her off by taking the Prince in his arms and shooting upwards into the sky. Lianne immediately burst into a run towards the tent, her exhaustion forgotten.

Lianne didn't know what she would do about his wounds, in reality, she didn't have any medical supplies on hand...who was she kidding, without proper equipment Casper was going to die.

By the time she reached the tent, they had placed Casper on the table in the center, where a lantern hung above providing Lianne with some light. But Casper's entire body was already jerking uncontrollably before her, and she knew with a certainty he was minutes away from dying.

"Casper stay with me, we have royal blood coursing through our veins, remember? We don't go quietly!" She said as she ignored everyone and got on the table to shake his shoulders.

Casper wheezed in a laugh before sobering " They call me home Lianne, don't you hear them?  You be strong for me won't you..." He whispered while looking Lianne in the eyes and he nodded, as though telling her this indeed was the end. 

At that moment Lianne knew with an assurance she wasn't going to let him go, this was no longer just about Casper, this was every life that had slipped through her fingers, every life lived short.

"NO!" Lianne bellowed as she placed her palms onto Casper's body, directly over his heart " You Will not leave me Casper! You will not die tonight! I will not allow it!" Lianne's entire body shuddered and the ground quivered with her, she felt it then, the odd tingling that began in her heart, and rapidly spread into her blood. And Lianne directed the tingling, guided them straight into Casper's chest.

She gripped the spearhead and yanked it out with a scream and watched Casper's body jerked upward, but she kept pouring herself into Casper, poured and poured till her body trembled with strain and she closed her eyes when it began to burn.

Lianne was on fire, every stemcell seemed to be lava, but she knew that if she stopped Casper not make it through the night. So with a pained whimpered she continued to keep her palms over his chest.

This was for her mom, this was for everyone she'd lost, for every young life taken before their time. For every weeping mother, and everyone she'd watch wail at the news of a lost loved one.

"They chose her!" 

"She is depleting her life force!"

"It's impossible!"

"Someone stop her!" 

Lianne could hear the shouts swimming around her head, but she was nearly done, just a little more pushing.

Suddenly and quite abruptly, Lianne felt as though someone was driving a pike through her heart, and she screamed in agony. Her screams continued as her leg felt as though it was being torn in half and she vaguely registered someone rushing to her side, calling her name in a slight panic before everything went dark as she collapsed over Casper's body in a heap.