Erdudvyl was exhausted.

The jubilation from having front seats to watching Loldirr's execution erupt into complete chaos had spurred Erdudvyl to continuously practising phasing throughout the rest of the day and night until she could not keep her eyes open much longer. When she awoke unceremoniously on the floor the next day, still fully dressed, she realised just how much energy it had zapped from her.

Her muscles ached so much that it had taken a humongous effort to even lift herself from the floor and raise herself onto her feather bed.

It appeared that, at this time, the Emperor's efforts did not focus on her, instead, the only time she had been disturbed was to have food placed into her chambers. She didn't know if the girl who gave her the food was instructed not to talk to her or was just plain mute, but Erdudvyl knew that the girl could never be a source of information.

Despite all the pain, the lack of energy and the desire for sleep, Erdudvyl knew that information was key. She needed to find where the elusive Loldirr had laid low. She also needed to find out what plans the Emperor had for Ravenscourt. Time was of the essence, she needed to act now.

A pigeon flew onto her balcony using the opportunity to look for food below. Erdudvyl smiled as it waddled from side to side examining the floor, the people, the other birds in a hope of obtaining some sort of nourishment despite being plump enough to not necessarily need it.

Easing herself off the bed, Erdudvyl gingerly edged her way towards the observant bird. "Milde, " she spoke softly just before the pigeon was ready to take flight.

As she reached the balcony, the pigeon waddled its way over to her, hopping onto Erdudvyl's wrist as she lowered it.

Erdudvyl smiled as she rubbed the pigeon's chin enjoying how the pigeon responded to her touch, pushing against her finger for more.

"Hæfen."

The soft words spoken through her lips made Erdudvyl stand frozen while her consciousness embedded itself inside the pigeon. Looking around the room initially felt bizarre as everything was so clear. As she looked up towards her body, it clearly glowed and had an aura around it. The true sight of the pigeon was spectacular.

She raised her arms, feeling no pain from her previous trials, and watched as a wing raised itself. It had been some while since she last performed this ritual inside of a bird, but it didn't take her long to remember. There were obvious limitations to controlling a bird, but there were also various freedoms, freedoms she hadn't realised she missed until this moment.

Pushing herself into the air, she flapped away from the balcony, soaring through the air. The wind brushed itself against her face, almost caressing her through her fluttering feathers. With her wings outstretched, she used the air to manoeuvre herself over the courtyard and towards the city. The freedom was exhilarating.

Flapping wildly, she headed for the ground feeling the wind buffeting her face. Gaining tremendous speeds, the thrill made her heart pound rapidly, only for her to pull herself towards the sky and raise her wings out wide. Gliding through the air like a plump missile, this was a feeling she promised herself to never forget again.

Remembering why she had inhabited the pigeon she span around and returned to the Lionmane keep, blasting her way onto the roof of the throne room.

Waddling around the roof, she looked for any opening that she could find, but when she eventually found one, the room lay vacant except two guards chatting about irrelevant things. It wasn't until a door opening echoed throughout the hall that she realised her trespassing was not in vain.

"Ruvia are only performing skirmishes at this time, your majesty. With the leaves soon to turn golden, I believe they only intend to weaken us throughout the winter."

Hearing the voice, Erdudvyl was drawn towards it, waddling her way on the wooden beams to enter what appeared to be a war room of some kind.

The Emperor was there, along with some other extremely powerful men, dressed in their fine silken garments. As they all stood around a wooden table with the carvings of the known world etched into it, Erdudvyl's heart sank as she recognised Gryffinfall across the ocean from the etchings of Ravenscourt.

It was when the man who just spoke moved a lion-headed piece in the far east of the Isovine territory, Erdudvyl realised that she may have arrived at the perfect time.

"Ruvia do not know how well we are dug in and how secure our supply chain is to the front lines. The skirmishes that we have faced are achieving nothing apart from a small number of casualties."

"With Ruvia under control, " the deep booming voice of the Emperor called, "does that mean we are in a position to send forces against Ravenscourt?"

"Diverting our forces from the front line to Ravenscourt would take months to achieve, " the man replied.

"I have no intention to divert our forces, " interrupted the Emperor, "Sir Bradajois, how quickly could you get the reserve army to march on Ravenscourt?"

A man from a side of the room stepped forward. "I could have the reserves assembled and ready to march in roughly seventy moons, your majesty. We would have an army of ten thousand at the gates of Ravenscourt ready to siege before the snows fall."

The Emperor leant forward on the table. "No siege, I want the city under my rule before the final leaf hits the ground."

"Your majesty, " the first man responded, "Ravenscourt has never fallen, to attack the city would be a grave mistake."

"To leave the city in the hands of Ethelston Darke would be a graver one. How many men do they have?"

"One thousand, your majesty, " the shrill voice of Kirken Merrithorpe explained, "with three hundred of them being under the command of the Black Knife Syndicate. My command."

The other men in the room seemed to take displeasure at hearing his voice and disliked the arrogant look on his face as he explained the situation.

"Plus with the Black Knife Syndicate causing chaos within the city, those seven hundred men would fall easily." he smiled.

"Sir Bradajois, can your men deal with a city of seven hundred defenders?"

"Your majesty, even the mighty Lionmane would struggle against my army with a mere seven hundred men, however, Ravenscourt is a fortress, your majesty, I would need this promised chaos to ensure absolute victory." Sir Bradajois explained.

"So be it, take Kirken with you to ensure we gain absolute control of the city. And Kirken, " the Emperor ordered, gaining Kirken's attention, "Do not return to Lionmane unless you have news of Ravenscourt's submission.

"Your majesty." Kirken bowed before slinking back into the corner, his smile seemingly disappeared after the final comment.

Waddling along the beam, Erdudvyl's controlled pigeon took flight out of the nearest gap in the walls. She didn't know much about armies, or sieges, or military strategy, but she did know Ravenscourt and the current state it was in. Getting this information to Ethelston was of paramount importance.

To prepare themselves, and to deal with the threat within, would there be enough time to deal with them both?

Soaring through the air once more, Erdudvyl knew she had to find Loldirr more urgently than before. A plan had formulated in her mind, but it was all dependant on finding ally's outside of the Lionmane keep.

Despite fluttering around Lionmane for a good hour, Erdudvyl could not find Loldirr anywhere. The city watch was certainly scowling the streets, desperate to find the mysterious woman who walked from the fire, but it appeared she had vanished.

Erdudvyl's pigeon stood on a house overwatching the city's main marketplace, allowing the bird to gain much-needed rest. It was also an opportunity to examine anything unusual that may lead to Loldirr's whereabouts.

Despite the events of earlier, the streets were bustling though few appeared to be actively buying from the Lionmane market. It was at this point that Erdudvyl could see the levels of poverty that infected the so-called greatest city of the Isovine Empire.

Scores of beggers littered the streets, the wealthy clearly felt the need to protect themselves from harm, and those who were in between seemed to be content to buy only the bare minimum. Even the merchants appeared somewhat destitute.

It was as two guards pushed their way through the gatherings that she finally saw something worth watching. A young hooded woman, desperate to keep distance between her and the guards that were investigating the marketplace.

The young woman was careful. Weaving in and out of the various groups of people, but in such a subtle way not to draw any attention to herself. As she brushed up against a group of commoners, queuing for the opportunity to purchase fresh fruit, Erdudvyl watched as the young woman carefully glided between the patrons and took a fresh apple in a blink of an eye.

No one had seen her take this apple.

Placing it underneath her cloak she carefully manoeuvred her way through the crowds once more, even walking past the guards this time as if there was nothing to hide.

As Erdudvyl watched, she noticed the way the young woman wiggled her hips as she took each step. Her walk was recognisable anywhere.

Stepping out from the crowd, the woman disappeared through an alley prompting Erdudvyl to take flight once more. Hoping between alleyways, she kept close watch of the woman until she eventually stopped to hide behind a barrel. Sitting down, she pulled out the apple from her cloak and proceeded to bite into it.

Erdudvyl had to act quickly in order not to lose her. The pigeon's sense of location was exceptional and she knew exactly where she was in relation to the castle; she hoped that this would not be lost once returning to her body.

Once closing the pigeon's eyes, she opened them once more to return to her room in the keep. Instantly, her body ached as if it was being pressed ferociously by a great weight, however, she knew she needed to try and ignore as much of the pain as possible. Once finding a cloak she waddled unceremoniously over to the balcony just like the pigeon before.

Grace was no longer important on this task.

Looking to the ground, which felt so far away, she had to phase there to find her way to the cloaked woman, but she had never phased this far before. If she did it wrong, it would be very likely that she would fall the rest of the way to a broken bone, or worse.

Closing her eyes she tried to calm her erratic breathing. The fear of opening her eyes and falling to her death was an exhilarating but unwelcome feeling. She needed to relax in order to make the jump.

The turbulent feeling of the phase enveloped her again like it had done so many times during the course of the previous day.

As the feeling of chaos and calm simultaneously came to an abrupt end, she could still feel the floor beneath her. Taking a sigh of relief, Erdudvyl opened her eyes to see that she was indeed in the courtyard of the Lionmane keep.

An uncontrollable laugh overtook her. With every breath, it hurt so much, but she couldn't help herself but laugh hysterically at her success. Urging her body forward her laugh gradually disappeared from the courtyard, hoping that she would find the woman before it was too late.

The walk was hard on Erdudvyl's already aching muscles. Every step burned as it felt they were pushing through boiling treacle, but as always, Erdudvyl's determination urged her on.

Reaching the maze of alleys the woman had walked through, Erdudvyl attempted to remember the route she had taken through the eyes of the pigeon. After a few twists and turns, she reached the alley that appeared somewhat familiar.

"Hello?" she called, hoping to gain the woman's attention.

The whistle of the wind was all that could be heard, but undeterred, Erdudvyl called once more. "Hello?"

She took a few more steps forward, annoyed that perhaps the woman had left before the chance to meet her presented itself.

"Hello?" she called once more with no reply.

Suddenly, she felt a press of cold metal against her neck.

Erdudvyl smiled, before chuckling as the cool blade was a relief from the pain that she was experiencing throughout the rest of her body.

It appeared the woman had not left, after all, she was obviously far more resourceful than people had given her credit and as a result, perhaps Erdudvyl could set in motion her plan to save Ravenscourt from the Emperor's grasp.

As her chuckle eventually died down, she turned her head slightly so the woman could see her, "It's good to see you again Chrys, I'm glad your safe, but I'm really sorry, I have a very important task for you."