Bostrim and Leunk weren't ones to fight. So they stood in the lowest level of Leunk's house, which was closest to the northern edge of Gardelle, trembling and holding onto one another. They had blood on their shoes and faces, and Leunk had a gash in his arm that wouldn't stop bleeding. The two were crying, and neither knew what to do about anything. Both had witnessed the closest people they had to parents-Bostrim's uncle and aunt who'd taken them both in as babies-die at the hands of men in shiny black armor.

"I no wanna die."

"Neither does me!"

"Shh, they'll hear us."

"Bostrim?"

"Yeah?"

"Yous thinks Mirian is out there still?"

"I dunno, magic man saids she was gone on a mission."

"Whats if they get her while she's on her mission?" Leunk asked, tears rolling down his face. He wiped them away, not wanting to seem weak. If anything, he was the strongest boy he knew, almost as strong as their leader. He could face anything. So why couldn't he stop crying?"

Bostrim wasn't crying, but he was just about. His voice trembled, but he couldn't tell if that was because of his changing age or what was going on. Either way, he didn't want to find out after he was dead. "They ain't gonna get her, she's the strongest dog out there!"

"Yeahs, but she's all alones and doesn't know of no war. She can't be on her own!"

"Shut up-"

"No, I won't!" Leunk said, letting go of him and furrowing his brows. He spat on the ground, then rubbed his nose. "She's our friend and our leader! We's can't leave her all alone! What we gonna do if she dies? The gang dies if she dies!"

"Why you talkin' 'bout death?"

"Because everyone is dying!" Leunk shouted, crying harder. He fell to the ground and brought his knees up to his chest, sobbing. "Everyone is dying and we gonna die next and we can't stop it!"

Outside there was a loud crash, and then something catching on fire. They shook and jumped as they could hear people screaming bloody murder, more than likely being murdered bloodily. Bostrim dropped down next to his friend, pulling out a piece of wood carved in the shape of a knife. He fingered the edges, remembering the day he was given it.

Mirian had just became their leader, and she'd taken him aside back behind the carpenters. There, she'd picked up a piece of wood and began to carve it with her knife, all the while asking him about his life. She talked to him about family and friends, and the two shared secrets. Hours passed with the both of them like that, just talking and laughing with one another. And then suddenly it'd gotten serious.

"Bostrim, do you know what I want more than anything?"

"What?" he asked, chewing on a stick of candy. He pulled it out of his mouth, wiped it off on his sleeve, and gave it to her so she could suck on it too. With a sad smile she'd take it from him and stuck it in her mouth.

"I wanna be like Luis. Strong, serious, good at everything...but that's not what I really want. What I really want is ta learn magic. Ya know, that cool magic that Destrim's always tryin' ta teach her. She ain't no good at it, but I wanna try it," she'd said.

He'd frowned at that, taking back his candy stick and tasting it again. It was sweet, like melted sugar in a wax base. But parts of it were sour too, which he liked. "Why you wanna do magic?"

"'Cause then I can get real powerful, and I can do anythin'. I'll be stronger than Luis, and she'll have to look up to me. One day, the world's gonna look up to me, Bostrim. And when that happens, you know who I want by my side?"

"Who?"

She'd taken the candy right from his mouth and grinned at him, "Bostrim Rentalla, the strongest feather-headed foolish boy I'd ever known. Me and you, Bostrim, we's gonna go far. But only if you promise to always do what I says, okay?"

I crossed my heart. "Always."

"Good. Now, whens our gang gets big, yous my second in command. I'll even make ya up a...whatcha call it? A's formal speech. How's that soundin' to ya?" she asked, giving him the biggest grin he'd ever seen. He could feel his heart in his throat, and he nodded until his neck felt sore. "Good," she said, slinging her arm around him, "good."

Bostrim didn't want to cry, so he didn't. He didn't want to go outside and face the people killing each other out there, so he didn't. But he also didn't want to disobey Mirian, who'd told him that if she were to leave, he was in charge. And out there, the rest of their gang was getting killed off and they had no leader because the one in charge was sitting away with the beans and beets next to his crying second in command.

So, with a groan, he stood and yanked up Leunk. He slapped him across the face, shouting, "You listen to me, Leunk! Out there people are dying and you just wanna cry about it! Of course we gonna go out there and save 'em! But Mirian is fine without us, she can handle herself! If she's out there, she's takin' care of 'dem while we's just actin' like babes! Get yourself together, cause now we's gonna go out there and save the day! You hearin' me? We's gonna go get them an' save 'em and 'dey's all gonna be fine!"
Leunk shook his head yes, then wiped away his tears. "Okays, boss."

"Now, yous got anythin' sharp on you? We can't go out there without havin' some sharps on us."

Neither boys had anything on them that wasn't made of wood, so they both looked around in the small room. There were some pieces of metal, which Bostrim took as his weapons, and an old broken rake that was rusted and sharp, which Leunk took as his. Even with weapons, neither boy left the room, both of them trembling.

"Okay, we's gonna do this." Bostrim said.

"Yeah, we's is."

"Yeah. Right now, we's gonna leave."

"Yeah."

They both stayed in the room still, just staring at the door that would take them up into the house. It was locked for their protection, because out there everyone was going crazy. Bostrim couldn't hold in in much longer, and he let out a yell and ran to the door, unlocking it. He looked back at Leunk, and the two of them nodded, then started to run out the door. The house was empty, having already been looted and having failed to catch fire.

Behind them they heard a crash and splintering wood.

An old man shouted, "I told you it would open! Get out of the way, move, move! Luis, you fix this damn door."

"Gee, old man, can't that wait till we ain't in trouble?"

"We'll be in worse trouble if people find out about this door. We're just lucky I closed off the entrance to the castle one, otherwise they'd have already found us."
Both of them froze in their tracks, staring at one another with widened eyes. Then Leunk started to cry again, and crumpled onto the dirt floor. Bostrim looked at him, then back where they'd just walked out of, then nodded to himself. He picked up the younger boy and carried him down there with him. The wizard-man didn't seem surprised to see them, nor did Luis, but the three other people there did.

"Leunk, Bostrim, glad ya guys are still alive," Luis said. "Here, come an' help me fix this door."

It had fallen completely off it's hinges and took almost an hour to fix up and have a charm set back on it. During that time, the two boys got the rest of them caught up on what had happened. Almost three days prior, in the middle of the night, the gong set between Carisel and Gardelle had sounded, quickly followed by shouting. All of a sudden, the storm that had been gone started up again, this time in full swing, as if it'd been going on for hours and hours and had just gotten to the good part. They ransacked the city, all headed towards the castle. Gardelle guards and soldiers did the best they could to fight them off, both sides losing hundreds of people. Out there still, the battle rages on, though it's closer to the richer sides of town than the side they were on then.

"But there's still people out there," the guy who called himself Elesen said.

Bostrim nodded, frowning as another scream cut through the air. "Yeah...they haven't really stopped fightin' any at all. It's horror. I's just don't understand why they's hasn't came inside here yet." He rolled his 'knife' between his hands, just touching the rough edges and smoothing them out the best he could. Outside the world was chaos, and he still couldn't believe that if they hadn't shown up when they had, both boys would have gone out into the fray.

Destrim gave a short cough before answering, "Years ago, mister Rentalla, your father and I were friends. He was near as good as a magician as Luis, though a lot more focused. Together we charmed this house as an informant house, as such we would be able to escape to this place and learn things and conduct meetings with high officials, yet as well as that was no one from the outside could see anything different. They more t'an likely see the house as burnt ta the ground or as useless."
"Oh. What are ya gonna do now? You ain't goin' out there, are you?"

Elesen shook his head, "Nay, we have already decided. Now that that may be, thou shall stay here with them. I know the both of you should be considered men at thy ages, but who would protect the princess, her maiden, and the wizard if thou were to go with us? Naught be it so, Luistia and I shall leave with haste to resume our mission."

Leunk quickly nodded, "I'll protect the girls!"

Bostrim agreed, "Yeah! We're mighty strong. See, Princess? We'll keep you safe."

Looking over to her brother, Amelia nodded and gave him a sad smile. "Thou knows my thoughts and heart, and I pray that nothing bad might happen to the two of you. Be extra vigilant, as war is as deadly as a viper but has a worse bite."

"I know."

"Next time, let me go on a deadly journey, eh?" She chuckled, then patted Leunk on the head. "So, Leunk, what type of games doth thou play?"

"We dun play games!"

"Oh? What doth thou do?"

Luis and Elesen left them there going back up to the actual house. It was small, completely unlike what Elesen was used to the size of a house being, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead he walked over to the door and opened it a crack, looking out at the street.

It was ruins.

Whole houses brought down by fire.

Bodies lay scattered about, some dead, some burnt to a crisp, and others barely hanging on to life. A soldier from Partrall ran past, waving his sword about as he charged one of the houses that hadn't been completely destroyed.

He closed the door again with a sigh, adverting his eyes to the ground. "It be worse than the two of us had feared," he told her, his voice but a quiet whisper.

A gentle hand touched his shoulder, and she gave him a tired smile. "Then that means we'll have ta be tougher than we'd ever imagined."

"What happens if we art not strong enough to win? What then?"

A gentle footfall came from behind them. Amelia smiled, holding in her hands an orb. "Come here, place your hands."

They walked over without question, Luistia setting her hand on one side of the orb while Elesen touched the other. Amelia closed her eyes, a silent spell washing over them as she expended the energy from both herself and the orb into the two of them. Though Luistia was still injured from before, and it would take whole months for her strength to come back in full, it gave her a burst of energy that would last for three days before depleting. It did the same to Elesen, making him stronger than he'd ever been before.

"Thanks be to thou," he told her, then kissed her cheek. His hand was buzzing from the orb, which had dissipated as soon as the spell had ended. It felt like a fire was spreading over his palms, not burning him but the heat spreading and getting hotter and hotter the closer it got to his heart. His breathing caught in his throat as the heat grew and grew, only to let out a sigh of relief as it left just as suddenly as it came.

Luistia had felt the same, and she hugged Amelia for half a second. "Thank ya, my Princess. My debt ta ya shalt ne'er falter."

"I shalt remember that. But first, it be thy job to return successful."

"I shall not fail."

Elesen nodded, "There be no turning back now. Shall we leave while there still be light upon our path, or should we wait until dark so that we might not be spotted out there?"

"Partrall has surely won against Gardelle, as they number far more than us. Ta city be dangerous, " she said, "but if we art ta wait too long than we shall have no possible way ta return with ta orb before Partrall is ta use it against us."

"We cannot waste no more time."

"Where be ya sword, Elesen?"

He looked down at his belt, where his case hung but no sword was to be found. He cursed under his breath, then shook his head. "I must have left it when I went to save Destrim. It probably dropped from my hands or something."

"We cannot go if ya cannot protect yourself."

"We cannot waste time, Luistia. There will be time for swords and protection later."

"What if we attacked? What if-"

"Life is too short for the ifs, Luistia," he told her. His voice was quiet, and he nodded to his sister. "I hath never been to well with swords, either, have I? Nay, this one shall be done the proper way. We leave now."

Luistia wanted to say more, but didn't. She knew that it was as much his journey as it was hers, and with a final farewell to Amelia, the two opened the door and walked outside. Ash was in the air, courted by smoke and blood. It was an overbearing scent of death, and right away the soft sounds of the house were replaced by the hoarse screams of the world about them.

They quickly moved to behind the house, fitting through the small bit of space between the house and it's neighboring one. Outside of the house was the edge of town, and they both began running. Farmland was the main of the land, making up the vast majority of what they ran through. Most of it had been burnt as well, though patches of greens remained. It was in a field, hardly a few minutes after they'd began, that they stopped to gather some food to take with them. "There be no use in wasting it," she told him. "Take what ya can an' we won't die of starvation 'fore we get halfway there."

With a nod, he picked up some of the peas, filling up his pocket. They both ate a pod or two there, knowing that the orb's energy couldn't provide everything for them.
In the distance, they could see soldiers marching, coming from Webby. Once glance at their orange and yellow uniforms, though, told Luistia that they were from Partrall. They must have taken over Webby, those poor people forced ta fight against allies, she thought. Soon, soon...once we get back ta orb, then ta Queen can use it on ta army and we can beat them. Partrall be an evil place.

"Luistia, get down," Elesen told her. He pulled her down onto the ground next to him when she didn't move fast enough, pointing to her right, at the soldiers. "Those aren't ordinary soldiers."

"And? They cannot possibly see us, we too far away."

"No, Luisita, thou does not understand."

"What?"

"Those soldiers..." he trailed off, shaking his head.

She sighed, hating the fact that they were delaying their journey for him to talk about soldiers. "What is it?" Luistia asked, starting to stand again. "We cannot afford to keep stopping for nothing-"

"Those are the King's soldiers."

She stopped mid-stand, a frown upon her face. "King's soldiers?"

"The King of Partrall is coming to Gardelle."