Eric Celeste's Point Of View

My sister went missing.

Her maid had run to the guards, telling them that she'd run off towards the castle to get to the city... but Lily was always picked up in front of the mansion, so she would probably be unable to find her way out anyway. Even if she got to the gate, the guards would stop her. Still, the mansion guards weren't able to find her, so I joined in. She was only 8, and a girl. She couldn't have gone far, I thought.

I was still searching when the refugees started pouring in, reporting a bandit attack and incoming soldiers from the south. Many of them would stare at me like a ghost, and an uncomfortable feeling spread through my stomach at their gazes.

As the only man in the family here I was called to a council by the knights of the castle.

Since I was only 11 they would be making the decisions, but for appearance and experience I was to observe, and decide which of their 'suggested' strategies we would choose. That was the plan.

A young man entered the room. He was bleeding heavily from his shoulder looked pale as death. He was the only guard that had appeared here, and he was heavily injured. But none the less the only one that seemed to know what was going on...

The city had been attacked in the morning while most were sluggish but still awake. The guards had set out immediately, but had fallen to an ambush, where their captain had been critically injured. They'd been giving their all to defend the civilians, but they were losing until...

He paused there and stared at me. Another uncomfortable look.

"I was certain it had been Eric Celeste-sama..."

Those words made my mind swim, because I knew one person that cross dressed as me. The one person with access to a set of my clothes. Lily. Lily had been where the bandits were? No, her maid had said she had run off.. but how?

"Continue." I pretended to be fine and unshaken. I tried to behave as Father taught me, but I dreaded the story that would follow.

Lily had taken over control of the remaining guards and cast healing magic-

WHAT?!

He continued the story, but I didn't understand how. Lily had the protection of water, how could she cast healing magic?

While the guards were suddenly refreshed and their injuries were healing, the bandit leader requested a duel, which Lily accepted.

My 8 year old sister that had never even touched a sword had entered a duel.

I could see the pallid faces of our knights.

Her death would be made their responsibility for not keeping a proper track of one of the Lord's children.

"And he won. And a village girl with the protection of a light fairy healed him."

A what? She what?

The story was absurd. It was like something out of a fairy tale. Those sort of coincidences... no... Lily couldn't handle a sword... but he said she won as if it was a matter a fact that she could use a sword. She had skills enough to convince a guard that she knew how to handle a sword...

There was... just no way...

"Where is s-... where is he now?"

I pushed away the chills running through my body.

"He and the commander went to hold off the enemy troops until the evacuation of the civilians is over. They said they'd be entering battle around now..."

A suicide mission.

I looked to the knight commander who was frowning.

"How many enemies?"

The guard hesitated, but showed a grimace.

"Bout' a hundred they said...."

That... wasn't too bad, right?

"How many people went to defend?"

The knight commander spoke hesitantly. There weren't that many guards in the city after all.

"...I think about 30 went... some younger men went as well..."

The knight commander looked at me and then shook his head. It was a 'do not expect anything' sort of look. There was more than thrice as many enemies... enemies that were professional soldiers... and the guards had already been attacked once today.

"Also... he said that more troops would be coming... that we would be under siege..." The guard added with hints of worry and fear showing in his eyes. Those news were the worst part of the meeting.

A siege.

We didn't have the men for something like a siege. We would have to wait for Father and the rest of the army to relieve us... actually, it would be good if they hit them in the back. If it was a siege then it should be possible. I mean, we had enough food for a while...

The man was asked to leave, and as he did the knight commander turned to me with a serious expression and knelt down to my height.

"We will send reinforcements to block the enemy from killing the people... but, you are better off to consider your sister dead."

...Those were the words he spoke, and as he did the skies seemed to darken. What was I supposed to do in that situation?

I couldn't go out after her, if she was even alive... I had to stay here... I was precious to morale and too young to go... they said...

---*---

We spent almost an hour planning out strategies and troop placement for the siege. We'd already sent off a messenger as well. Still, we were without news the situation at the battlefield south of the city... and then a roar of cheers went through the castle courtyard.

One of the knights barged into the room with a salute and then reported.

"The enemy troops south of the city was annihilated. Lady Lily and Guard Captain Gerald Whitebourough returns with 19 men, 7 of which are currently unable to continue fighting. They finished off the enemy before we arrived there."

Silence fell upon the once bustling room filled with arguments on how best to defend the castle.

Outside sounded another cheer, but it sounded distant... like it was unrelated to the tense atmosphere in the room.

"I will go see her."

I broke the silence and headed from the war room to the great hall with hurried steps.

How would I greet her? I didn't even know what was going on. My books, my teachers and my advisers had made it clear they would die... was it relief in my chest? Or something else? If Lily had been my older brother I would have been among those cheers... but she had never touched a sword before, nor a book on strategy. She had never spoken to the guards, never ridden a horse. Never faced her death directly. Was she really her? Was it an imposter?

I stepped to the front door of the throne room, which were opened by a couple of knights.

...

The cloudy skies broke with rays of sun gleaming down from the skies... and in front of me... on the top of the stairs was Lily... bathed in a ray of sunlight and facing the crowd beneath her. She was covered in blood, even her back was stained red. Her hair had curled lightly from sweat, water and drying clots of blood... The guard captain's mantle covered her small shoulders, but there in the light her existence seemed... enormous...

Her hand lifted to the sky a long sword that shone in the ray of light, and with that single movement she raised a cheer from the crowd beneath... and it hit me like a storm. A cheer it was... but it sounded wilder... like the roar of a beast...

I stood blinded by her light... while I stood stunned in the covering shadow of the castle. They couldn't see me, only her... and I realized in that second... it was as if I was standing in her shadow...

She lowered her sword and dropped it while turning in a firm and determined movement... like a general off to plan the next step of a war...

Our eyes met.

Her expression showed an unexpected exhaustion... though she'd been so filled with life just now...

She walked to me... nearly passing me when she stopped.

"I'll leave the rest to you, Eric."

I understood what she meant with those words. She wanted me to take the credit for her actions. She was pushing her sunlight onto me. She... was taking off her shoes and asking me to fill them out...

I clenched my hands tightly. There was... no way I could do that...

Thud...

I turned to the sound and found Lily fallen to the floor face first.

"Lily!"

I flipped her over in an instant... and she was covered in wounds. A couple could have been fatal if they'd been just a little deeper. Surprising amounts of the blood on her was hers.

"Call a doctor!" I screamed out as loud as I could.

She couldn't die yet. She still had so much to explain! There was no way I could fulfill the role she was trying to give me!