Rina had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep before her brother woke her to get ready. Despite it, she felt well-rested and ready for what the day would bring. Ever since Benj had told her what was happening, adrenaline had coursed through her veins and she had wanted nothing more than to liberate Maeve from its enemies.

Her time away had changed her brother and she couldn't tell if it was for the better or for the worse. He was angrier, ready to attack anything that posed a threat to him, her and her friends included. Or maybe he had always been that way and her time in Brenmar finally allowed her to notice it. It could be that she had been the one to change, or it was both of them. Either way, they didn't get along as well as they once had.

He'd been so angry at her for her hair, but she had grown to like it. It wasn't as short as his, as a real Warrior of Ziya, but short enough for it to not be much danger during a fight. When she'd explained it to him after Emrick and Isiah had gone to bed, he'd tried to convince her that she didn't need to fight, but stopped the instant she brought up saving his life. Fighting was necessary if she wanted to live and wanted Isiah to do what was needed. No one else would believe them, but it didn't matter, as long as they saved as many as they could.

Maeve would be Isiah's first foray into doing his job as the Beast that was Promised and she had no idea how he was going to go. It was obvious that Benj wanted him to fight like she did, but he wouldn't. Even though everyone and everything told him to fight, Isiah would stay as peaceful as possible. While it annoyed her, she had to admire him for sticking to his values.

In the main room of the little resistance force, Benj was helping his second in command put on their armour. There weren't many of them in the room, thirty at most. Benj had told her that most of the townsfolk that were able would help them, but that was only a little over a hundred. If she hadn't arrived with Isiah and Emrick, they would have been slaughtered the second they tried anything. Her baby brother.

In the corner was Benj's second in command, someone she had barely spoken to the night before, but had smiled kindly at her. Their name was Skyt if she remembered correctly. They had a bow on their back and as she watched, they put it on the table with a sigh. They weren't part of the army, but someone from Maeve trying their hardest to help out. Just like everyone else around them.

They were relying on Isiah to be the bulk of the force. The chaos his flames could create would be enough for the enemy to be confused and to not fight as well as they were expected to. After that, her, Benj and Emrick would be the ones to take out as many as they could, trained as Warriors. The other townsfolk would do what they could, but she didn't expect them to be much help.

Dawn was the best time to do it. Any army would expect a surprise attack at night or a stupid one during the day, but dawn was when the night watch and the day watch swapped, both exhausted. If they were lucky, they wouldn't see them coming until they were close. At least, that was what Benj had told her. She trusted him, he'd been the one to be trained as a general after all.

Even though he was only seventeen, he was intelligent. He knew how to formulate a plan almost as well as any general, but he was still a child. He shouldn't have had his ceremony, shouldn't have had his hair cut, shouldn't have been in Maeve in the first place. All it showed was how desperate their father was that he would potentially sacrifice his only son.

"Rina!" Benj called when she walked into the main room, gesturing to her. "We tried to find your friend, the Ishini, but he wasn't in his room. Do you know where he is?"

She frowned and then let out a laugh. Finally. "I do," she said, ignoring the confused look on her brother's face. "I'll wake them."

As she had expected, Isiah was with Emrick. Both were fast asleep, pressed against each other under the blankets. Emrick's face was buried in Isiah's hair, who snored into his chest. They looked content and part of her didn't want to ruin it, but she needed to. They had a battle to win.

She shook them gently, laughing at the glares they shot her. "Come on," she said. "We need to get ready." Almost immediately, Isiah paled as if he had forgotten what they were there to do. Emrick seemed a lot calmer, but she could tell that even he was scared. She was terrified, but she hid it well, or so she hoped.

Ignoring the anxiety in her gut, she left them to ready themselves. Emrick whispered something to Isiah as she left and when she turned back, he shot her a weak smile. If only they could have sorted things out before they arrived in Maeve, they would have had more time together if something happened, but at least they had made up.

Before she'd slept that night, Benj had shown her where the armour was. She knew how to put it on. After months of asking and complaining at her teachers, they finally taught her in a quick session. It was one of those things she had never been expected to use and once again she felt the urge to find them and prove them wrong.

It felt strange after weeks of fighting without it, heavy and uncomfortable, but it was safer than the long coat and trousers she usually wore. At one point, she had to get Benj to help her and he commented on how strange it was that they would fight together. Neither of them had ever expected her to use any of her training, but there she was, gearing up to fight an army.

By the time she was done, Isiah and Emrick had come out of their room. The former still looked as though he would vomit at any second but didn't protest when Emrick helped him with his armour. She had no idea how he knew how to put it on, but there were a lot of things about Emrick that she didn't know.

She went to grab her sword from her tiny room, but Benj stopped her before she could even reach the little hall beyond the main room. "This one might suit you better," he said and handed her one that was much lighter and thinner than the one she had stolen from a guard way back in Ishmar.

With a small smile, she weighed it in her hands and swung it at an empty part of the room. It was better designed for her style of fighting and would make it far easier for her to fight. "Thank you," she said to Benj and glanced around the room. "How much longer?"

"Not long," he said and ran a hand over his shaved head. "Most of them are ready to go. There hasn't been much movement from the camp, I think that's a good sign."

"You are far too young for this," she told him, her jaw clenched tightly.

He shrugged at her, but there was a sadness in his eyes. "I don't have much choice," he replied.

"I tried for peace," she whispered. He shouldn't have been there. Her failings during the treaty meant that he was, when he wasn't even an adult.

He smiled at her as if they weren't about to go to battle. "I know," he said and sighed. "The note father received from King Harudan, it said you tried to kill him."

For a long moment, Rina was stunned to silence. "That's not true!" she cried, ignoring the looks it got her. "He tried to kill me! I told you that! Isiah was a witness." She pointed at him and he looked confused, as if he hadn't heard what was happening. Of course, he hadn't, he didn't understand a word of her language.

Benj put a hand on her armour-covered arm. "I'm not saying otherwise. I believe you. But that was the reason he gave for declaring war. He used you," he told her. "There never would have been peace."

She'd known it from the start, but it still hurt. Not all that long ago, she had wished to be back in Ziya to watch her brother complete his training and go through his ceremony, but because of Harudan, because of her, he'd gone through it too early and was living so far from their home.

"Does father know what we're doing?" she asked. It hadn't even occurred to her to ask until then.

Benj shook his head and she hissed in a breath. "I haven't been able to get a raven out. When we win, I will. I'll let him know that you're alive too," he said. Before she got a chance to reply, someone called to him and he walked away with an apologetic smile. He was in charge in Maeve and the people needed his help.

Isiah and Emrick stopped next to her, both with helmets on their heads. "Are you ready?" she asked them, trying to ignore the awful feeling in her stomach. She would be fighting for her life and for many lives in the coming moments.

"No," Isiah said and there was a tremble to his voice. Emrick had an arm around his waist and was frowning at him, but he didn't say anything. "We don't have much choice though, do we?"

"None whatsoever," Rina replied with a shake of her head. They stood together in the middle of the room, watching people bustle about with swords and shields and bows. With a sigh, she put on her helmet and what felt like a second later, she stood on the grassy fields outside Maeve, the enemy camp standing before them.

It wasn't as big as it had looked from above the town, but there would still be far more people than what Maeve had offered them. A little over a hundred had joined the little resistance force, but there had to be five times as many in the camp. Many of them would die, they might even lose, but if that looked to be happening, her priority would be getting Isiah and Emrick to safety.

Their small force had separated into even smaller groups, all drifting slowly towards the camp. The signal to charge was Isiah and a wall of flames that would burn the nearest tents. Of course, he would burn them in such a way that no one would get hurt, not until they ran from their tents and were skewered by Rina's blade.

The grass around the tents was high and if they stayed low, they wouldn't be seen easily. Her group was made up of her and Benj, with Emrick and Isiah in front of them. A few she didn't know crept behind her their hands on the hilts of their blades, ready but trembling with fear.

The soldiers in front of them yawned, taking no notice of the people slowly creeping towards them. A good sign, the guards hadn't switched yet, meaning those that were awake were at their most tired. The others would be asleep, but they would wake at the first sign of trouble. They had to do as much damage as they could before that happened.

"Are you ready?" Benj asked next to her and she almost replied before she realised that he was actually speaking to Isiah.

He looked strange in armour, it didn't suit him. "As I'll ever be," he whispered and she could hear how scared he was in those few words. "Move away for a minute."

The second they were out of the way, flames shot from his palms. She couldn't see the flame stone anywhere, meaning he no longer needed to hold it in order to use his powers. With every use, he grew better and better at controlling the flames. They shot through the grass, not setting a single strand alight, and licked at the edges of the tents.

With a loud whoosh, the first few tents burst into flame, dark smoke rising into the air. Isiah hissed in a breath next to her and the flames quietened, but there was no stopping the damage they had already caused. Soldiers burst from the tents and those on watch let out loud cries of shock and anger. The sound of blades being pulled from their scabbards filled the air and Rina readied herself.

As silent as a summer breeze, Rina darted forward, Emrick and Benj on either side of her. Some distance down the grassy field, the other groups were running forward, taking advantage of the soldiers' panic as the flames continued to spread. Isiah waited in the long grass behind her, a safe position for him to do what was needed.

The soldiers had their backs to them and, not wasting a second, Rina already had one bleeding on the ground before anyone realised that she was there. The chaos of the fires was the perfect distraction and their tiny group launched into the camp. The fires spread quickly, jumping from tent to tent but never staying long enough to do any lasting damage. If the soldiers were smart, the most they would get was a few burns.

From the looks of things, they weren't that smart. A few grabbed at the dirty snow among the tall grass in an attempt to put out the fires instead of fighting the people there to kill them. They were surprisingly easy to take out and one look at Emrick and Benj told her that they were thinking the same.

Fighting with armour was harder than she thought; it was heavier and her limbs didn't move as well as they did without it, but she was safer with it on. She grunted loudly when a large body collided with her and spun out of the way. The soldier towered over her, but he wore no armour. One quick twist of her blade, faster than he could keep track of, and there was a gash in his throat.

As soon as he was down, she moved on to the next one. A woman with a sword in hand climbed out from a burning tent, rage on her small face, but she didn't get far. Rina didn't stop to kill her, just thrust at her as she walked past, the blood mixing with the dirt and the snow.

The sky was still dark ahead of her, the sun rising from behind and casting orange light on the already burning landscape. Isiah made sure not to burn any of the grass, only the tents, so that it didn't spread towards the town and grow out of control. Around her, people yelled for water, for backup, for anything, but all went unheard as each person tried to do what they thought was necessary.

Spying the obvious Askari among them, a group of soldiers clad in silver armour ran for her. Rina dodged under the heavy blade of one, swinging her blade up as she stood to drag it through the belly of another. With a yelp, she jumped backwards when two others lunged at her, backing into a tent pole. All she could feel was heat, but she knew Isiah was watching; he wouldn't let her burn.

There were still three of them, glaring at her with white-hot rage under their helmets. Ignoring the pang of anxiety in her chest, Rina steeled herself for the coming assault. Two of them never made it to her, taken out by arrows through the chest. As much as she wanted to look at whoever had saved her, she needed to focus on the last one.

When the soldier was down, impaled through the stomach and gasping at her like a fish, Rina looked back into Maeve. A figure stood on the roof of a nearby building, a bow in hand and a quiver of arrows on their back. She had seen them before, pulling on their armour with her. Benj's second in command. In thanks, Rina waved to them and was surprised to see them wave back.

After that, the battle became a blur of blood and flame. She fought hard, killing anyone who stood in her way. Tears threatened to spill down her face whenever she saw an Askari lying in the dirt and snow, but she willed them away. All around her, the enemy camp burned and the soldiers ran, their confusion easy for her to take advantage of.

At times she struggled, especially when more than one soldier attacked her at a time, but she could handle herself, taking them out with quick, calculated moves. Early on in the battle, she lost track of Emrick and Benj, but she knew the former wouldn't stray far from Isiah. Over time, she made her way further into the camp. By then, the flames had spread to every tent and the only thing she could see clearly was orange.

Everywhere she went, blood followed after her. No one stood a chance against her, not even the few that were able to land a few hits. There was a cut on her neck, not deep enough to do any lasting damage and a few dents in her armour that made it uncomfortable to walk, but for the most part, she was uninjured.

She didn't notice that she had reached the end of the camp until all that met her was a field of grass and snow. With parted lips and sweating hands, she turned and watched the battle rage before her. She didn't know how long she had been fighting for, it could have been hours, but she didn't feel tired. There wasn't long to go, that much was obvious from the bodies and the number of soldiers running between the burning tents.

The smoke hindered her vision and made her lungs burn, but it didn't stop her from running into the fray once more. By the time she made it back to the other side of the camp, only two of the soldiers had gotten in her way. They lay somewhere behind her to be trampled by the others.

Emrick was still fighting not far from where they'd left Isiah, exactly as she had expected. He no longer held his sword and a blue glow emanated from his hand. Somehow, he was fighting with the fear stone. His helmet had been knocked off his head as well, showing his rage to the world.

As she watched, he held up the stone and for a moment nothing changed, then the group of soldiers before him screamed. Some dropped their swords and grabbed at their bodies as if something was crawling on them, but she couldn't see what it was. With a yell, one clutched at their heart and fell to their knees, gasping and sputtering until they collapsed on the ground.

In the midst of the fires, she stood frozen, her mouth agape. The other soldiers followed suit, clutching at their failing hearts and screaming. She couldn't see Emrick's face, couldn't tell what he felt about the whole thing. That was the power of the fear stone, it scared people to death.

She was still frozen when a tall soldier snuck up behind Emrick, sword at the ready. She tried to cry out, but her voice was almost silent against the roar of the flames and the yells of those fighting. If she didn't get moving, Emrick would have no idea what was coming. She had to save him.

The distance was too far; she'd never make it in time, but someone else would. A small hand gripped the wrist holding the thick sword. The majority of Isiah's body was hidden by the grass and his face obscured by the helmet, but the one thing she could see clearly was the yellow glow of the strength stone.

The soldier he had ahold of twisted to look at what was stopping him from killing Emrick. With his other hand, Isiah plucked the sword from the soldier's grip as if it were nothing more than a twig from the ground. With an irritated heave of his shoulders, he threw the sword behind him and it clattered against the wall of the building the archer had stood upon, far away from the raging battle.

Finally, Emrick noticed what was happening, but by the time he did, Rina had reached them, her sword at the ready. She yanked the soldier away from Isiah, who let go of him with a gasp, and plunged her sword through his chest. With a heaving breath, she pulled out her sword and let the soldier drop to the ground.

"Are you alright?" she asked them, her gaze flicking past Emrick to the bodies of those who had killed themselves.

"Aye," Emrick said and grabbed the nearest sword. He twisted it in his hands and smirked. With his other hand, he grabbed Isiah's. "Thank you both for that."

Isiah said nothing, staring around them with wide eyes. The battle was nearly done, that much was obvious and with a quick twist of his hand, the flames were gone. The only sign that they had been there in the first place was the ruins of the camp they had raided. Just how powerful had he gotten with the stone?

After the flames went out and the smoke stopped filling the air, finding the other soldiers was easy. In the middle of the camp, checking over the bodies, was Benj. There was a proud smile on his face when he looked at her but neither of them said a word. Over the tops of the blackened tents, she saw a few of their enemy quickly dispatched by the remains of the resistance fighters.

Even though they had lost more than half their number, they'd still won, all thanks to the chaos Isiah's flames had wrought. A hand on her back made her jolt and turn around. Emrick held up his hands in mock surrender and she sighed with relief. All three of them were safe, they'd liberated Maeve from the Ishini, her brother was alive.

Finally, exhaustion washed over her and she leaned her hands on her knees. "We did it," she whispered over the sounds of the remainder of the army dying. Against all odds, they had won. "We did it."

"We did it," Isiah said back to her, but there was something in his voice that she couldn't quite place, something that sounded a lot like regret.