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Will was woken by hands shaking him gently. He swatted them away, curling deeper into his blankets and trying to reach for his dream again.

"Let me have my beauty sleep," Will grumbled, not opening his eyes.

"It's the king, sir," the reply came. "He wants to see you in the Great Hall."

Will's eyes flickered open. Ulysses had paid little heed to Will, spending most of his time speaking with commanders or his barons. Lately, Ulysses had devoted lots of time trying to get into contact with Damek Westerling or the living Silverlings, knowing that the two families consisted of much power. The rest of the time was spent managing the attacks on the ports, sending ships out to various sea battles. A few Northern ships still slipped through to raid the coastal villages, however, and many people had evacuated to go further inland. Trade with the Free Isles had dropped as a result, and the fishing economy had come to an almost complete standstill.

"Do you know why?" Will asked the maid as he sat up.

"No, sir."

"Please, I am no sir. It's just Will," he told her.

He noticed her blush as she turned and hurried away. Lots of the young maids or ladies of the castle seemed to do that whenever they saw him. Giggles often followed him down the corridor and it made him feel slightly uncomfortable, especially with the staring. Even while training with the guards, he felt them watching and sometimes saluted them just to watch them giggle and turn around to whisper among themselves.

The only other time he had spoken to Audrey, excluding the time when they had watched the archers together, had been when he had approached her in a corridor to ask if she would walk in the gardens with him. Audrey had not responded, walking straight up to a group of ogling maids and whispering something to them before walking off.

Will sighed as he stood from his pile of blankets on the windowsill, dressing in garments fit for a guard. Josiah, the head guard, had visited him the other day with the clothing and armour. He had asked to be moved to the barracks and Josiah had taken him there, the smell of lingering smoke and sweat that seemed to stay no matter what lying on the air. He had been willing to stay there, but Ulysses had insisted otherwise and he had his own small chambers as a guest of honour for saving the king's cousin.

He was careful to be quiet as he crept out, heading out to where the dining room was. It was early in the morning and the castle slept, leaving the corridors empty except for a few guards taking night shifts and the coats-of-armour and busts lining the long corridors. Candles lit his way as he walked, only coming to a stop in front of a huge door with a lion's head brass knob. He gently pushed the door open to find Audrey sitting at the long table already, a cup of warm tea clasped between her hands. She didn't look happy to be there so early either, judging by the weary look on her face. Annalee was there too, her head on the table and her blonde hair almost spilling onto a bowl of bread.

"Morning, milady," Will said, sliding into the seat next to Audrey.

"Morning, archer," Audrey mumbled back.

He grinned at her and leaned over to take a piece of bread from the bowl. Annalee frowned as she moved her head to face him, jolted by the movement of the bowl.

"Why... why are you eating bread before sunrise?" Annalee grumbled, her head not leaving the wood of the table.

"What? I'm hungry," Will replied. "There is no way I'm getting back to sleep after this, so I might as well just eat my breakfast now. Food means energy, right?"

Audrey swiped the bread from his hand and bit into it before passing it back.

"Not feeling the 'energy'," she said.

Will shrugged as he started on the bread himself.

"Neither," he agreed after a moment.

"I'm going to ask the chef if she can make me a cup of coffee," Annalee said, standing and lifting her head from the table.

"Coffee?" Audrey frowned.

Annalee stared at her for a moment before giggling. "Oh, I forgot you are a Northerner. It's a drink they have down here in the South, imported from the Free Isles. The caffeine in it is good for waking you up, but I hear that coffee is mostly considered a peasant drink in the North, so I assume you won't have had it before. I'll get you a cup to share."

She hurried into the kitchens, walking down the small staircase leading there. Will was about to offer Audrey a stroll in the gardens for the second time when he was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Ulysses walked in, the only one that seemed awake, and took a seat opposite Audrey and Will.

"Where is Annalee?" Ulysses asked, looking around.

"Getting a drink," Will replied.

"Caffee," Audrey said slowly, as if she was speaking a second language.

Ulysses frowned. "What did you say?"

Audrey looked to Will for help, but he just put his hands in the air in mock surrender.

"I can't believe you don't know what caffee is," he mocked.

"Ca—? Oh, you mean coffee," Ulysses said as Annalee's head poked up from above the staircase leading into the kitchens downstairs. She held two mugs of a black drink, one which she placed between Audrey and Will, and the other which she put in front of where she took a seat next to her brother.

Audrey stared at the drink.

"It's a bit bitter, but it makes you more energetic," Annalee explained.

Audrey tentatively sipped a bit and her face wrinkled ever so slightly as she passed it to Will, turning straight back to her tea. Will picked up the cup and drank. The warm and bitter taste exploded on his tongue and he paused, letting it sink in before taking another sip. He liked coffee, although it was more of a rarity in the North, saved for special occasions by commoners but reviled by the rich.

"Why are we here?" Audrey asked Ulysses.

"I have grave news," Ulysses responded.

Will noticed Audrey visibly tensing up, her hand moving down to her armrest and clenching it tightly.

She's hiding something, he thought.

"What is it?" Will asked, taking another sip of the drink.

"The West has fallen, and Landon is marching on us," Ulysses said.

Will snorted so hard that the drink came out of his nose. Ulysses, to his credit, kept a stoic face as Will coughed, but Annalee bit her lip.

"If I hadn't heard the bit before that, I would laugh," Annalee said and offered him a handkerchief, which he took gratefully.

"How many days?" Audrey asked, ignoring them.

"They just passed into Southern territory. To here, I'd reckon it's a few days on horse, but longer with infantry," Ulysses said. "I can send soldiers to delay them, but our defences are currently concentrated by the coast, and we can't spare them. We won't be able to halt the North until they are closer; we have little power by the Northern border after Starford Field."

"Can't the people push back?" Annalee frowned.

"The town of Jaskadlin tried revolting against their Northern oppressors, but the Northerners publicly executed the perpetrators until they stopped. Dalyidas won't do the same after the massacre at Jaskadlin." He sighed. "We have little hope; they can push down from the north while their naval warriors push from the south. We'll be trapped, unless we can find some way to appease or assassinate..."

"Excuse me." Audrey was pale as she turned and hurried out, knocking over her cup on the way out. The clay shattered as it hit the floor, spilling tea across the wooden planks.

"Why am I here?" Will asked Ulysses, rounding on him.

Ulysses shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "You know Audrey well. I know... well, rumours of Landon. I'll need you there to calm her down."

"Calm her? We'll be at war. Fury can be a fuel," Will replied, his voice turning angry although he was speaking to a king. "You can't just tell her to calm down."

"He will want to negotiate," Ulysses said simply.

"Then don't! Don't force her into that situation. She should not be allowed near that monster," Will sneered back.

"I have a country to deal with," Ulysses snarled, making Will flinch. He sounded like a king suddenly, and Will didn't see him as the young man he was as Ulysses stood, rising to his full height and towering over him. "I am your king now, so do not presume to tell me what to do when you are just a filthy commoner. You are lucky I deigned to offer you hospitality at all."

Will was too angry to care that he was a king. Let him take my head off. I don't care anymore.

"If anything happens to her, you will have it on your conscience. And, king or not, I will not let you get away with it." Will turned and strode out too, running as soon as he had left the door.

"Audrey?" he called with no response.

He ran to her room and knocked.

"Hello?" he asked.

No response, even after he had knocked some more. He turned and tried to find the exit to the gardens, failing a few times and getting lost in the unfamiliar castle, but eventually finding a way out.

He hurried into the small forest as dawn rose, spilling light between the leaves of the trees. He heard whispering and followed the noise to see Audrey sitting in the middle of a clearing, leaning against a well with a fox on her lap. Curiously, he watched from afar as she stroked the animal before walking up to her.

"Foxes have diseases," he informed her, and she jumped up in surprise, the fox springing down from her lap and running away.

"Oh. It's you." Audrey instantly sat back down.

"Seriously, how did you tame that fox?"

"I didn't," Audrey replied. "They're sly creatures and hate taking orders."

"Then why was it being so... friendly?" He thought back to the fox that she had left behind in Northstone.

"I have experience with them." Audrey's voice was flat. "It was hungry, most likely, but I brought no food with me today." She noticed he was standing and gestured next to her. "You can sit."

Will sat beside her in silence. He could find no jest or jape in him, finding that he had no intention of joking around with such a tense atmosphere. Her auburn hair had faded to a brown, but it was in that light that Will could see the red strands remaining, glinting away in the sun.

She's remarkable, he thought. He wished that there was another word to describe her. Perfect wasn't right, because it was impossible to be unflawed. There were many fairer and kinder people than her, but Will doubted any of them would have the same spark she did. Something that drove her to smile through a crumbling facade, that led her to stand even as her knees threatened to buckle. Yes, she had started to fall, but Will wanted to help her back up. Maybe that was his problem; after his sister had died before his eyes, all he wanted was to save others from the same fate. He wanted to be a saviour, a hero.

But no, boys like him didn't become heroes. They became corpses, lying dead on battlefields with no one to mourn them.

Until the morrow, then, soldiers told one other before battles. It was the only promise they had, an oath to keep living and see the sun rise again.

For boys like him, there was nothing, and there never would be. All there was to do was live, to serve in battle where it was called for.

Unless... Will pushed that thought away unfinished.

"It's been many moons since my father died," Audrey said into the silence.

"When Landon comes, you don't need to give him anything," Will replied.

"Why is it so hard to be brave?" Audrey murmured.

"Audrey, you are so, so brave," Will replied empathically, taking her scarred hand in his own, calloused from using a bow.

"You don't know him," Audrey said, leaning her head on his shoulder. He was startled, like he often was with her, but did nothing to stop it.

"I don't. But I know enough to say I won't let him hurt you. I promise."

"Promises are just words, and words are lies."

"Not always," Will reassured her. "Not these words."

"I was going to be queen," she said weakly, her voice cracking.

She finally broke and cried, and Will found himself comforting her, his lips forming a song that he had sung once before with his little sister.

Remember the willow tree?

Hanging above the grave,

It taught us to stand strong with bad,

And always try and be brave.

Remember our special star?

Brighter than the rest,

It taught us to shine bright and true,

And try and be the best.

Remember the big meadow?

Right beside the hollow,

It taught us to be healthy and grow,

Even with guilt to swallow.

Audrey fell asleep like that, her head resting on his shoulder and the sounds of the forest gently lulling Will to sleep beside her. He didn't move, running a hand through her hair and watching her face as she slept. She looked so peaceful, her features relaxed.

He put his back against a tree, moved her head onto his lap, and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the birds and the wind.

Aww Will is a baby

Love you all,
Shelly xx