Everyone looked at him with disbelief. Bianca was the first to speak. "What about us?"

"All of you have fulfilled your promises to me," Amadeus nodded at Rei, Izumi and turned to One, Bastian and Bianca with a gentle smile. Bastian was glad his hood was still on; it was fearsome to gaze upon the uncovered power that rested upon Amadeus at that time. "You are all free to go. This is not your battle. I will stay and fight."

"One will stay and defend master's people," One replied as he lumbered to Amadeus' side. No one argued with him.

"You just risked your life to save mine," Izumi said softly. "I will fight by your side as well."

"I won't allow it!" Rei shouted at her.

"Father, I'm old enough to make my own decisions!" she shot back at him. "I can't believe that you..."

Their arguments faded off into mutterings and shouts, which Bastian tuned out of his mind. He had no reason to risk his life for these weaklings, but curiosity pulled at his heart strings. He could not resist fighting by the side of this strange boy. This boy, who had the power to wield lightning, was master over the most powerful being he had ever seen, and now had claimed to speak to the Maker and lived to tell the tale. If One was willing to fight by Amadeus' side, how could I resist doing the same? Bastian furrowed his brow and he considered his options. He had to see this boy in action. But, what would Bianca think? Would he risk his twin's life just to satisfy his curiosity?

"Brother," Bianca interrupted his thoughts. He turned to look at her. "I know you want you are thinking, and I want you to know that I will honor whatever decision you make." She looked uncertainly into his eyes. "I'm curious too."

"Amadeus," Bastian started in a loud and clear voice, causing Rei and Izumi to pause their bickering to listen. "Bianca and I will fight by your side. Show me your true strength."

"If Izumi insists on staying, then I'm staying as well to keep her out of trouble." Rei said with a tone of resignation.

Amadeus nodded quietly. "That makes... one, two, three," he started counting "...six of us against the White Harrow army."

Suddenly, smoke billowed out of thin air and a black figure appeared in front of Amadeus. The figure wore and Onyx mask. The Onyx Order! Bastian immediately pulled the spear that hung on his back and swung it towards the black figure.

"An Onyx assassin... again?" Rei grumbled in disbelief as he immediately drew his frost daggers. Izumi followed suit and One stepped protectively in front of his master.

"Is it the same one?" Izumi asked through gritted teeth, her voice laced with concern.

The figure ignored the array of weaponry that was pointed in his direction and knelt down in front of Amadeus. He looked towards the ground and offered his right hand with open palm to Amadeus. Amadeus frowned in confusion underneath his hood. "Uhh... what's the assassin doing?"

"It's a sign of submission among Nobles," Jarbus explained. "Although for the life of me, I can't understand why an assassin from the Onyx Order is submitting to you?"

"I'm just as confused as you are," said Bianca as she shook her head with a puzzled look on her face.

"I'll tell you the story later Jarbus, it's a really funny one." Bastian laughed to himself.

"Amadeus spared his life yesterday," Izumi explained. "I don't think we should trust him though," said Izumi as she turned to Amadeus. "He did try to kill you just a day ago."

Amadeus hesitated for only a moment before reaching down and taking the assassin's hand in his. He pulled the assassin back to his feet. "Make that... seven of us against the entire White Harrow army," he said with a grin.

*******

Medwin stretched lazily in his chair. The White Harrow barracks was buzzing with life as the zero hour approached. Several battle-wizards marched past him, their boots thumping on the wooden floorboards and their enchanted robes billowing behind them. Medwin felt the fabric of his own enchanted robe between his fingers. The fabric felt soft to the touch, but he knew that it was enchanted to protect the battle-wizards from commoner weapons such as sword, spear and arrow.

Medwin was a rookie, and would probably be drafted in the front lines. The front lines only served one purpose - a wall of flesh to defend the veteran battle-wizards. That would have orry him if they were going against an Exile army, but tonight's mission was going to be easy. Did they even need to send the entire army? Malevolent Drake sure knew how to be melodramatic when he wanted to prove a point. So his son got beaten up by some commoner kid, so what? It didn't mean anything to the other Nobles. He kept insisting this was necessary to prevent a commoner uprising but frankly the rest of the Nobles knew it was personal. It didn't matter what anyone else thought though, Malevolent was in-charge.

Medwin gripped his fist and ice swirled across his arm and a cool mist encircled his fist. He was an ice affinity wizard. Each Noble had a natural affinity to one of the four elements, earth, fire, water and wind. They normally grouped same affinities into the same brigade, and he was in Ice-Four. As the cool mist shimmered on his fingertips, he pushed the energy towards the drink on the table next to him, causing it to chill to just the right temperature.

"Ahhhh..." he sighed with satisfaction as the sipped his cool beverage. Closing his eyes, he felt deep in his mind for his magic source. Ah good, still relatively full, smiled Medwin. He would be ready for tonight's battle. Each Noble had a different capacity for magic, some had power as much as a drop of water, others had as much as a bucket, and the more powerful ones had as much as a well. One thing in common they had though, as soon as they drained their magic source, they be unable to cast another spell until their source replenished. Medwin remembered that draining one's magic source fully also had a toll on the physical body. He had experienced it firsthand last week during training and ended up panting on the ground to catch his breath.

"Fall in!" shouted an authoritative voice. Medwin didn't need to look up to know who had entered the barracks. Captain Connel, the leader of the Ice-Four brigade of White Harrow. It must be time for the pre-battle briefing.

Medwin took his place next to his bunk bed as boots of Ice-Four battle-wizards stomped all over the room to take their respective places. In less than a minute, two clean lines formed on both sides of the room. Everyone stood still at attention, their faces focused and serious. Captain Connel walked in to the room with his enchanted robe on and his hood drawn. He made his way down one of the lines, inspecting each of his troops in detail. He did the same for the line on the other side of the room before coming to a halt in the center of the room.

"Listen up, men. It's another ten minutes before the zero hour. We've gotten our orders from the general, it should be a standard slaughter and kill procedure. We are going to split our troops into ten groups. One thousand troops in each group. We will attack in waves, with increasing intensity." He paused and surveyed the faces of his men, some of who looked uncertain. "Ice-Four will be in the first wave, so we are up in ten minutes. Is that clear?"

"Yes, captain!" the men shouted in unison.

"These commoners are hardly trained for battle, but their leader Jarbus was one of the more prominent Exile generals. A master tactician, he may be the one and only threat in the entire camp. I don't expect to lose any men tonight, because well... we're going up against commoners." One of the other rookies raised his hand, and Captain Connel nodded in his direction.

"Sir, if we slaughter their entire camp, who is going to serve White Harrow? We won't have any other servants."

"We're not paid to ask stupid questions rookie!" shouted Captain Connel as the poor rookie shook in his boots. "But, I'll reward your courage with an answer. The higher-ups are taking care of that. We will be expecting a group of new commoners here in a week's time to replace the ones we slaughtered. We bought them from the Iridia Nobles." He folded his arms across his chest. "Now men, if there are no more stupid questions, check your magic source and raise your hand if it's full."

All across the room, battle-wizards closed their eyes in concentration, sensing their magic source levels. Hands started going up all across the room. Captain Connel nodded in approval.

"Now, if you don't already know, at the zero hour, our magic sources will double until the first rays of sun peak out of the horizon. The power of your spells is also doubled. Some of you..." he gestured to the rookies "...may be experiencing this for the first time. Do not, and I repeat, do NOT let the power go to your head. You are not to under estimate the enemy and stay alert at all times. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" the Ice-Four troops shouted in unison, their voices echoing in the barracks. Captain Connel looked out the window into the night sky. "It's almost time. Mount up and get into formation."

The troops grabbed their broomsticks and headed out into the courtyard of the barracks and gathered into a spearhead formation. Remembering his training, Medwin took his place near the tip of the spearhead. He straddled the broom between his legs and rolled his eyes. He never understood why they were made to ride into battle on a device used for keeping the floors clean. Tradition, they told him. Just because the first Nobles rode broomsticks they were forced to ride into battle on a cleaning tool.

Captain Connel took his place in the center of the spearhead formation. "Hoods on!" he commanded and the Ice-Four Brigade battle-wizards simultaneously drew their hoods over their heads.

A couple of minutes ticked by and suddenly Medwin felt a surge of magical energy rise up within himself. It felt good, intoxicating even. He breathed in the cool night air, feeling refreshed. The sudden surge of power made him feel invincible, like no one could stand in his way. This was his first taste of real battle; if this farce of a slaughter was even to be considered a battle. He could probably take out the commoners all by himself if he wanted to. It's time, he thought with a smile.

"Ice-Fourrrrr!" shouted Captain Connel.

"Haaaaaaah!" roared the men in reply.

"Tonight, we take our rightful places as gods among men. We show the commoners that we are in charge." Captain Connel opened his palm and released a flare into the sky with his fire affinity.

"Move out!"

Author's Note: The final battle begins in the next chapter. Stay tuned! As always, vote and comment my little minions... muahahahaha.