The soldiers awed her, and Sophie awed them. A mutual surprise at the mere existence of the other.

"How did you-"

"That bird of yours. Or rather, dragon," Iphigenia answered, "He followed our scents to our hideouts, we saw him without you, and with a few strands of your hair in his mouth. We knew we had to act. He followed your scent here and we simply followed. And Amalia, I don't think you have looked past the Isle since these fuckers started attacking you, correct ?" Iphigenia asked.

Sophie shook her head and turned to where Iphigenia suddenly pointed. Deep in the city of Renisanca and even the villages surrounding the Isle riots were breaking out. Bloody, angry riots.

And The Senate was not the one starting them.

The last time Sophie saw her people was when she was carted around in that cage like a trophy. They wanted to help but remained chained by their hesitation and fear. But it seems like the fire of rebellion melted the metal of terror, breaking those chains again for the Inalian people.

"Listen to whose name they are crying." Iphigenia prodded, giving Sophie a small nudge. The names and chants were lost over mortal ears, but not Pancras ones. It had been a while since she had done the transformation, but she let calm settle over her. Her nails sharpened, and her teeth pointed. Her golden locks turned to ones of pure white. And the golden brown seeped from her eyes.

"For Amalia! For our Queen! For Amalia! For our queen!" Iphi squeezed Sophie's shoulders.
"You are their queen. The Queen of Assassins and more. A queen of the people. All you need is a fucking crown now, huh? And what nation of people lets the royal family die alone?"

Sophie swallowed her hesitation, turning to Iphi with a small smile. But Kassandra met her eyes first.
White hair, gold eyes, claws, and pointed teeth. Sophie realized she and Kassandra looked so similar, it was difficult to tell them apart now.
"I could see my blood running through you before, but now?" Kassandra's golden eye shone brighter, "The last of my bloodline." The queen murmured a bit to herself, gripping the crown tucked beneath her shoddy robes.

The crown was a key to the evil god coming for them all.
"We need to regain the advantage. We need to move further up the hills towards the edge of Inalian territory. We gain the higher ground, we can pick off the last ones bit by bit. Alexios will lead the mountain party. I will go to Renisanca." Sophie turned to Iphi, "If you want to use my face to inspire this revolution, then we need to get to the heart of it all. Let me speak to the Inalian people. Unite them all under one flag. Yours."

Sophie rambled, her mind putting the pieces of a new plan together. Iphi continued the thought, "Vincenzo will follow you more than Alexios. He can get Kassandra out, the people will see you and the revolution's fire will be stoked, and the people will finally give up on Vincenzo. Fully move to our side."

Sophie smiled in response.

A strained smile hiding the panic within, but a smile nonetheless.

"Wait, Amalia and I are splitting up? I don't think that-" Alexios was cut off by Kassandra, "Let her go. She will be making her speeches, kissing babies, and rallying the people while we will be doing the difficult stuff. Or, rather, you will." Kassandra walked to Sophie and grabbed her glass stress ball. Kassandra tapped on it twice, and it shrunk to the size of a marble.

"Consider this a spoil of war. Your victory after fighting these long hours alone with your brother. A good luck charm, if you wish." Sophie took the small purple and black marble, holding it to the light to see the small stars twinkling within it.
"I'm sure it will come in handy."
Kassandra's eyes grew wistful, "I'm sure it will."

Sophie, not wanting to scare her people, rode in on Ricin in his midnight stallion form. He never liked being in this form much. But the red-eyed and sharp-toothed monster may not be the best way to ride in when being the face of a revolution.
Her mini army's footsteps were uneven and sloppy. They were just farmers who decided to use their pitchforks for something other than hay. Or they were nobles who wanted to step out of their comfortable lives for either the right moral thing to do or just a bit of fun.

She entered Renisanca first. A gutsy move, seeing as it was the heart of the Senate. But she needed their attention for as long as possible if Alexios, Kassandra, and her remaining Spartans and pirates were to escape.

There were small skirmishes all over the city, but most scrambled to see the hidden Queen of the Assassins march through the streets with an awkward princess smile and shaking hands holding her reins.

The whispers took her aback. Not all of them were good. Not all were bad, she supposed. From comments about her being alive to others saying she should've just stayed away- that her radical ideals of true freedom and the voice of the people were going to get them killed.

"So, uh, what do I do now?" Sophie asked the captain of this little escapade.
"Just let them see your face. And if the Senate gives us trouble? Show we won't be pushed around."

Sophie and the captain turned to the main street leading to the biggest city squares. In it were lines of Senate soldiers. Sophie unsheathed her blade from her back, lightning licking down the silver blade and curved black pommel.

She opened her mouth to announce one type of order, feeling slightly out of place. She would give anything to rather be tucked up on the rooftops and just throw one of her smoke bombs upon the mass of soldiers. She was still getting used to her army of Spartans and pirates, not just her assassins.

But before she could say anything, the army around her surged forward, pitchforks and rusty blades raised.

And Sophie was thrilled she didn't need to say anything before they collided.
Sloppy? Maybe, but passionate? Hell yes.

Alexios gripped Kassandra's hand, turning to the sun peeking above them.
"Please don't make me do this, Kassandra."
"You already agreed to it, boy."
They both froze at the sound of pounding boots. But when Alexios turned in terror to the sudden reinforcements, Kassandra rolled back her shoulders. She dropped her cane beside her with a half-hearted thunk.

Sophie thought she would be making more speeches, but in the past hour, all she had done was make one lousy "please follow me, I have no clue what I'm doing" speech and had kissed no babies. But there were plenty of soldiers. Sophie ducked beneath a soldier's blade, spinning out of their reach and behind them. She tripped their feet, sending them toppling to the ground in heavy armor.
Sophie panted, squinting at the small pass in the mountains where Kassandra was escaping. Allowing her mere moments to enter her Pancras form, her heightened vision allowed her to pinpoint where they should be.
But they weren't there. There wasn't a single sign of her party on the pass at all, in fact.

Sophie screamed as a soldier rushed her from behind, sending them into the canal below. The water was foul, like piss and dirt. Sophie's white hair shimmered back to blonde. Her golden eyes turned brown, her sight turning black with the murky water. A few feet away from her was the shimmering outline of Esposita armor. And dense black hair surrounding the head-blowing out bubbles as it descended.
Alice.

Sophie pushed herself down, biting her tongue as the pressure clamped down on her ears and lungs. She looped her arms underneath Alice's, straining to pull the two of them above the water. Her armor was like a weight pulling her down.

Pulling at the plates, Sophie spotted the armor straps of hardened leathers. Flicking her wrist, her wrist blades shot out and began to saw through them. But the exhaustion of the weight of the water and the last hour of nonsense scrabbles and speeches began to force Sophie's eyes closed.

The last of her air had escaped in rushing bubbles from her nose, and her ears were screeching as the water began to seep in and crush her eardrums.

Her blade finally cut through the last strap, and Alice's armor separated from her like a flower's petals opening into full bloom. Sophie grabbed her and sent them rocketing towards the surface with every last fiber in her body.
The two of them broke the surface, Sophie gasping as air rushed back into her lungs and murky water cleared from her eyes. Sophie shook Alice, who began to mumble awake.

"Over here!" A farmer boy who was fighting alongside her beckoned to the bank of the canal. Sophie handed him Alice first, who sputtered out water and gasped incoherently. Two other rebels grabbed Sophie's forearms and hoisted her out of the water.

Alice slumped onto the cobble beside Sophie, pinning back her massive head of curls behind her with her arm as she met Sophie's eyes.

"You saved me."

"You would've done the same."

"No, I wouldn't have. I'm your enemy. A pawn of the Esposita."

Sophie hacked up the last of the water before she pushed herself to her feet, her eyes focusing back on the silent mountain pass.

"No. You are just Alice and happen to be wearing Esposita colors." Sophie swayed but whistled over Ricin. The massive stallion clopped over, patient as Sophie weakly threw herself onto his back.

The sun shimmered behind Sophie, setting and blending into glorious night and creating a halo of glittering divine light around her. Her hair clung to her face as she kindly but sternly said, "I'm not going to kill you."
Alice didn't get a chance for a rebuttal before Sophie kicked her ankles into her horse's side and set off towards the mountains.

Mirthless reigned in by Esposita soldiers descended from the mountains to the small pass where her men were now circled around Alexios, who was a shining light on the field.

But the Queen of Inalia was not to be seen.
It wasn't until Ricin reared back when boulders came crashing onto the beaten path did she dare look to the mountainside beside her.
Knurled teeth had consumed Kassandra's mouth, black goo seeping from the gums as she snarled at the Nilfa circling her. Her pupils were thin slits, her skin so pale that it looked like a thin sheet that black veins of ink had seeped through. She had grown a foot and a half, her legs now oddly double-jointed and her arms hanging too long at her sides with her fingers replaced entirely with long black claws.

Was there anything of Kassandra left?
Sophie spotted the glittering crown beneath the scraps of fabric hanging off of Kassandra's frame. And the Nilfa and their eyes fixed on it as more surrounded the queen. Sophie sent Ricin into a full sprint up a beaten old path where Kassandra fought off the side.

"Go help Alexios!" She said to her companion before standing on her stirrups and pulling her sword out of its sheath. One deep breath, and she jumped from the saddle and on top of the Nilfa, about to slash across Kassandra's abdomen.

Kassandra's eyes widened at the wild Keeper hanging onto the screaming Nilfa's back, kicking and screaming. Sophie wrapped her legs around its gnarled and broken ribcage and lifted her sword, bringing it down through its skull. Sophie whipped her head up as she rolled off the limp body, her hair smacking her back and flying in her face.

Kassandra just gave her a wild, too wide smile before launching at the next Nilfa.
Sophie needed to get her aunt out of here. She was the one thing that mattered. She sprinted towards the she-devil with hair of white. Kassandra's hair was unbound, flittering and flapping in the wind like a flag of unmovable vengeance. A beacon of thousands of years sitting in that fucking crypt to allow her wrath to simmer over. The only thing really left of the queen, it seemed, were those white tresses. More Nilfa and Mirthless crowded them until it was hard to see two feet ahead of her.

Kassandra shoved her claws through a Scylla's throat, black blood seeping from her gums and staining her teeth. She coughed and wavered but laughed as she lunged for her next opponent.

The Iron Empress still lives.
Sophie flipped her blade in her hand and, without stopping, cleaved through the mass of Scylla and Nilfa towards the Queen of Inalia. If she ever lost her aunt, she just focused on the flittering white that caught the setting sun like an opal. Sophie flew back, and Nilfa got their claws around her braid and swung her like she was nothing but a bag of rocks. Sophie collided with the mountainside, feeling something crack and her body cry in pain.

She heard screaming, but it wasn't hers.
Kassandra was screaming just one word, barely discernible over the dark howling voice of Mephala echoing over her own.

"Alexios! Alexios! Alexios!" The queen howled over and over like a battle cry.
The man looked up from his scrabble down the hill before spotting his sister shakily trying to get up. The Nilfa, a mix between a Lith and Scylla most likely, hounded closer and closer to Sophie.
Blood pooled out of Sophie's mouth as she raised her head, her vision doubled as she tried to light her hand with lightning.

But the Nilfa was faster.
Lifted by her neck, Sophie shuddered and coughed against the claw tightening around her throat and lifting her to the sky like an offer to the gods.
"I not want to. They make me kill." The Nilfa croaked out, unable to make a full sentence with the mirthless running amok in their mind.  A person was still in there. But too far gone.

Sophie kicked and gargled as blood choked back up through her mouth, air denied from her lungs.
Alexios sprinted up the hillside faster than any horse Sophie had seen before, his great sword swinging in the bronzed sun as it came down the Nilfa's arm.
Sophie dropped, landing on her knees and gasping for air for the second time that day. Alexios speared his blade through the Nilfa, his teeth gritting when black goo splattered alongside his face.

"Alexios..." Sophie panted, a small smile splitting her face as she rose back to her feet. But her brother wasn't smiling back at her.

"I'm sorry, Amalia." He whimpered.

"What-" Alexios grabbed her arms, pulling them taught and forcing her to her knees. Sophie screamed as her knees pushed into the dirt, fighting out of her brother's grip.
"You idiot, what are you doing!" She screamed. A shadow blocked out the sun, and Sophie raised her head.

Kassandra stood in front of her with an empty gaze. Sophie then felt wet drops on her neck. Tears?
"Just do it Kassandra!" Alexios wailed above her, his voice shaking with tears.
Sophie squirmed in his grip, whimpering as Kassandra lowered herself to her knees, an easy feat with her double-jointed legs.
Her claws weakly grabbed the crown hooked on her hip. Sophie's eyes widened as Kassandra hovered over Sophie's head.

"I, Kassandra, the Iron empress and the Queen of Inalia-"

"What are you," It finally clicked, "Don't. Please!"

"Wish to pass my burden and honor of the throne to my heir Amalia Hera Morretti."

The crown shone with holy brilliant light, making the monstrous and hellish Kassandra reel in pain.
Kassandra gritted through her teeth, "Does Alexios Morretti agree to be the witness to the crowning?"
Silence before his quivering voice answered above her, "I do."

Sophie watched as the Nilfa and Mirthless honed in on the artifact, sprinting for Kassandra and the artifact in her hands.

"Kassandra, behind you! Stop this!" Sophie cried, shaking in Alexios's tight grip. But it was clear to Sophie that he wouldn't let her go any time soon.

Kassandra's eyes watered as she carefully placed the crown on Sophie's head, her massive claws making it look tiny. Sophie sobbed as the crown grew hot with power. Golden light imitating tree roots filtered from the crown and sewed itself into Sophie's scalp, magic unlike any other.

The Nilfa emerged from the hill edge and sprinted for Kassandra with claws raised.
Alexios finally dropped his grip on Sophie, watching as the queen took a step back from her niece and nephew. Then another. Each step brings her closer to the Nilfa.
"All hail Queen Amalia Hera Morretti of Inalia! All Hail the Queen!" Kassandra roared over the chaos as the Scylla swung with its spiked tail at the white-haired she-devil.
"Kassandra!" But it was too late. The queen took the hit to the side and flew like she was nothing, smashing into the hillside. Dirt and debris flew around her as her crushed body skidded.

Sophie sobbed and, without regret, left her numb brother to the hordes of Nilfa and Mirthless defending them.
Sophie landed on her knees beside Kassandra, sobbing and shaking the broken body of her aunt.
But her golden eyes were empty.

The black veins smoked and hissed, leaving Kassandra's body like a bug leaving its hive. The black mist gathered into a swirling vortex above the former queen's broken body. Sophie cried and kicked back, trying to get to her feet.
And then the black mass launched for her.
Sophie screamed a blood-curdling scream that the world hadn't heard since the fall of Inalia when a daughter watched a blade pierce her father's heart.
Sophie's body exploded with light, filling the world and snuffing out the black vortex like it was nothing but a flame in an ocean.

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