Somewhere In Xadia

"Wow, this place looks even more amazing than in the books!" Soren gasps as they ride through the bright green fields of grass and tugs on his horse's reins to halt and hop off. "I've never seen this much green since Katolis!"

"Del Bar has no green fields anywhere?" Daniella asks as she stops her horse beside him as Soren squats down near a cluster of flowers to pluck something up.

"Look at these! It's so cute!" He exclaims, holding up a colorful ball of fur and holds it out to her. "It's even got a face!"

"What...oh!"

Soren laughs as he drops his arm to bring the small creature back to his life of sight. It was a pretty light purple color with pale blue splotches dotting it's little body. It made a little squeak as he placed it on the palm of his hand where it began to bounce in place a few times before leaping off back to it's colorful friends bouncing in the plants where he found it. Oh Claudia would love these, as would Gisli, and maybe Leif as well. Thinking of his family made him feel homesick for Del Bar, for it's cool weather and kind of muted colors and landscape. This whole place felt too warm for him, even when he removed his fur hood from his armor. He'd probably change into one of his other shirts more suited for warmer weather.

"Soren! Stop gawking at the flowers!" He hears Desmond yell. "You can admire them after we've conquered this place!"

"We should go, at least before he or Kasef practically drag us back to the group." Daniella says as she points back to the marching line of soldiers. "Race you back?"

Soren grins as he quickly darts back to his horse and leaps back into the saddle. Daniella grins before giving and whoop, driving her horse back towards the army with him at her heels. They laugh as they race past the other soldiers before they slow down when they reach a very annoyed Desmond and unconcerned Kasef.

"I win!" Soren laughs as his new friend reaches over to smack his shoulder. "I did!"

"That's bull, I got here first!" Daniella laughs and Desmond scoffs loudly. "I ought to head back, catch you later when we actually make camp."

"You seem awfully chummy with that soldier." Kasef comments once Daniella was out of earshot.

"She's just a friend, and a lot more funner to talk to than you or my grumpy pants brother." Soren says with a shrug, earning another scoff. "No offense."

"We're not here to make friends Soren, we're here to show Xadia that we're not afraid of them anymore, and what happens when you mess with the wrong kingdoms."

"Has it ever occurred to any of you that maybe we can actually resolve this war without killing each other?" Soren asks with a frown. "Hasn't there been enough death already?"

"Xadia needs to know what happens when they go too far." Kasef points out. "They nearly killed my father, they killed four other rulers who were also parents to children! Don't you think they deserve justice?"

"Don't you find it odd that Xadia went after the other four kingdoms when they have done nothing wrong?" Soren retorts. "I don't think king Harrow deserved to die, but queen Fareeda, king Florian and queen Ece didn't deserve to get killed either. And neither did your father Kasef, but if any of the rulers-"

"Soren!" Soren looks ahead to see his father turning his horse around towards them, looking very angry. Oh boy...

"You're in trouble now~." Desmond whispers in a sing-song tone as their father approached. "You should be afraid, father can be quite frightening when he's angry."

He should be, but he wasn't. Why should he be scared of the man who did nothing but scream and argue with his mother day and night, who didn't even bother to try and keep in touch with him and his sister, who even had the audacity to call good soldiers "weak" because they didn't want to go into a pointless battle?

"I did nothing wrong." He states with a frown. "There's things more frightening than an angry father to be worried about."

---

Del Bar

"They're here again!" Magnus yells as he bursts into the living room. "Aric sent his sister princess Lella to talk to Claudia!"

"Wow, he really thinks sending my friend to talk to me will convince me to release Leif?" Claudia asked in annoyance, looking up from the game of chess she was playing with her grandfather. Leif was kneeling next to the table and had been watching them play, but now his eyes were on Claudia, full of fear and worry. "Don't worry, Lella can't convince me to give you up. We'll have her and your horrible brother running back to the palace in a few minutes. Gran, can you -"

"Don't worry, he's safe here with me." Ulf responds before gesturing to the stool Claudia had just gotten up from. "Take a seat Leif, I'll show you how to actually play."

Claudia smiles as she steps away from her stool, letting the young prince climb on so he was facing her grandfather as he was rearranging the chess pieces to their original places. She immediately heads for the front door, Magnus passing her her mother's sword before shoving it open. Sigrid was sitting on the porch with Raul, now feeling a bit better to be sitting outside, her own sword laid on her lap as she sharpened it and glaring at Aric. Lella was standing respectably a few feet from the front step, her dark hair pulled back in a thick braid with a leather headband to keep the smaller hairs out of her face and dressed in the thickest fur coat Claudia had ever seen her wear, which wasn't unusual for her.

"So, what business do you have here?" She asks as she stands on the top step of the porch, glaring down at her friend.

"Aric wants Leif back." Lella responds bluntly. "I don't know why he thinks you'd give in easily if I ask you to hand him over."

"Yeah I didn't think you'd come here begging on your knees for him to come back." Claudia agrees with a frown. "Leif doesn't want to even go home, what's really your brother's deal with wanting him back?"

The princess shrugs. "I don't know, but I think it's better off if he's here. Much quieter without his constant sobbing."

"If your parents died when you were his age you'd be sobbing too. And I do agree that he's better off here with my family."

"Lella you're supposed to be convincing her to hand him over!" Aric yells from his spot, taking a step forward and stopping as Raul gets up from his chair. "And tell your friend to call off her uncle! I don't like how his finger is on the trigger of the crossbow!"

"That's the point boy." Raul snorts and looks to Sigrid. "Sweetheart, remind me why you even dated him in the first place?"

"I don't even know why either, but whatever." Sigrid responds with a roll of her eyes. "Just go home Aric, we're not letting Leif go. And I'd be careful if I were you, the trees are watching."

Claudia glances at the trees surrounding the path that led up to the house. She knew in some were some of her mother and uncle's cousins, each with a loaded crossbow or bow and prepared to fire near the prince should he step out of line. A bit too much honestly, but her family was known for being a bit extra when it came to security.

"If you won't hand Leif over, I'll have no choice but to order my guards to arrest you!" Aric snarls and Lella rolls her eyes.

"Oh my ancients Aric, just give it up! Even Cira told you it was pointless to try and get him back, he's better off here with Claudia and her family!" The princess says and folds her arms over her chest. "Let's just go. Sorry for taking up your time, just tell Leif he's free to come home on his choice if he's ready to at least behave himself."

"Hey Aric, when Soren and my aunt come back, expect a punch to the face!" Sigrid yells as Lella walks back to her brother and their guards. "I can't do it myself, but you can bet my cousin is gonna break that ugly nose of yours."

"He won't be a crownguard anymore if he returns home alive!" Aric yells back angrily.

"Well, that went differently than I expected, in some says." Raul says as the group walks away and Claudia turns to walk back into the house. "You know, already the entire capital has already heard of what happened to Leif and I won't be surprised if a revolt against Aric happens."

"I'm surprised Audin wasn't here, probably cowering away in his office and screaming at the poor staff." Claudia adds as she turns to walk back to the house. "You think Soren and aunt Elda will come back?"

"They better, otherwise I'm going after them." Raul mutters. "I don't know how much longer we can go on with keeping Aric from taking Leif back by force. One of these days he's probably going to resort to sending an army at us."

"Extra much?" Sigrid snorts. "Gosh I hope everything is going okay in Katolis. As much as I want our family to return to help us, I don't want them coming home to a full fledged Del Bar civil war!"

"Oh don't exaggerate, it won't escalate to that." They hear Ulf say from inside the house and turn to see him standing in the doorway with Leif hiding behind him. "By the time our family and the soldiers return, this nonsense will be over. I guarantee it."

---

Xadia, somewhere near the Sunfire elf kingdom

Enya knew something was up when Desmond had all four armies gather around the base of a large hill that overlooked the camp, and that she had to move. With all the soldiers distracted and their attention on Viren, who had returned and was now ranting about power, she had a chance to slip away unseen towards the horses. Smoke was already eager to leave, stamping her hooves impatiently and trying to jerk her reins from the wooden post she and the other horses were tied to prevent them from wandering off.

"Shh, it's okay girl we're going to leave right now, stay quiet." Enya whispers as she carefully unties the reins from the post. She hears a soft nicker and sees the two horses Kasef and Soren had been riding watching them, as if expecting her to untie them as well. "No your riders are still here, and you probably don't want to be running for days on end either."

Storm gave a soft snort and touched noses with both horses before letting Enya lead her away. It wasn't until they were several yards away from the camp that Enya decided to mount her horse and move when she heard someone calling her name. Wait, was that Soren?

Nope not going to stay and find out! Not today!

"Daniella wait!" She could hear Soren right behind her before he came into view, grabbing the reins of her horse and giving them a sharp yank to make them stop.

"Let go!" Enya yells frantically, trying to yank the reins from Soren's hands. "I'm not going back!"

"Well I'm not either!"

Enya stops struggling and looks at him in surprise. "Wait, but I thought-"

"My father, he wanted to use his magic on the soldiers, but he wanted to use it on me first." Soren explains as his grip loosens. "I refused and he got mad, Kasef offered to take my place and he got turned into this big stone monster that glows. I had to leave, and when I saw you and your horse were gone I got worried! But I'm glad that you actually were leaving, and I want to come with you, we can go back to the human kingdoms!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not going back home, I'm heading to the east." Enya says pointing in the direction she had stated. "My brothers are already here and I need to warn them and the dragon queen about Viren."

"Brothers?" Soren asks, looking very confused. "You never mentioned having any brothers."

"Daniella doesn't have brothers, but someone else does." And with that, Enya reached into her shirt to reveal a simple leather necklace with a small pale blue stone dangling from it and carefully removing it from around her neck. She heard Soren gasp in surprise and drop Storm's reins, now seeing who she really was.

"Wait, Enya?! You were here the whole time?"

"Yeah, I needed this disguise to help me sneak into Xadia and see what Viren was up to. A dangerous task, but surprisingly I wasn't even caught." Enya says as she tucks the necklace into her saddlebags and grabs the reins of her horse. "And now that I know what Viren is doing, I can go warn my friends. If you want to go back home that's fine, I'm not stopping you."

"Wait!" Soren grabs her wrist before she could even walk away. "I'll come with you, you'll need someone with survival skills. And who better than a soldier who has been trained to survive the harshest conditions?"

"If you're implying that I can't care for myself, I'm going to prove you wrong." Enya says, yanking her wrist out of his grip. "Just go home Soren, your family has already left for Del Bar and you should join them before you get hurt."

"No, I'm already too deep in this. And abandoning friends in need is something Desmond would do, not me." Soren says as he moves his horse to block hers. "Callum was my friend, Ezran may not have been my friend but it's unfair for me to leave when you need help defending that baby dragon. "I'm coming with you to wherever they are going to be."

Okay she was wasting precious time standing here and talking to Soren, risking the chance of getting caught if someone noticed they were both missing, but Enya knew he was right. Zym needed all the protection he could get, and the more humans and elves he had to protect him the better. And Soren was a soldier, so having him on their side could be a big help.

"Okay fine, but don't start fighting with Rayla, the last thing we need is some bad blood between humans and elves in this group."