"What can you tell me?" Princess Monne asked when they sat down at the tiny table in the middle of the room. The maid that opened the door for them placed down small plates of food and Elora watched as the three men struggled not to devour it in a second.

"A lot, your highness," she said.

"Just call me Monne, Keeper," the Princess replied with exasperation. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

Elora frowned. "In that case," she said before she could change her mind. "You may call me Elora. It is my name after all." She watched Monne's face, the frown that formed and the way her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Monne had only been a teenager the last time Elora had seen her, when she had brought the Key to Maheem. The young Princess had tried desperately to become friends with her and by the time she left, Elora had found that she actually liked the girl.

"Alright, Elora," the young princess tested out the name on her tongue. She looked over at the three men and their vain attempts to eat politely. "Please, go crazy. I would assume you haven't had all that much to eat on the way here." Ragen only shook his head in response before digging into his food with enthusiasm. Mikhail let out an embarrassed grunt and Monne laughed.

"Apologies, your highness," Nyal started. "It's been a long journey."

"I can imagine," Monne said. "Where did you come from?"

"We've been travelling from the basin of the Fiume River," Elora answered, ignoring Monne's shocked look. "We went down through the south, to Riba, then we came here."

"By the Gods," Monne muttered. "How did you survive? Those monsters are everywhere. They've killed so many of us already and we don't even know what they are." Elora picked at her food, finding that she wasn't as hungry as she expected to be.

"It's been difficult, but we've been fighting them along the way," she explained. "They're hard to kill, but with some training and a lot of effort I'm sure your soldiers will be able to fight them off."

"Do you think we'll be able to win?"

Elora fell silent, not wanting to promise anything by saying yes or bring them down by saying no. "No," another voice, Ragen's, said. "Not against that dragon. He ripped my bloody arm off like it was nothing. I can't imagine what he'd do with your army."

"Ragen," Mikhail scolded.

"What? It's true. Look at me!" he gestured at the stump of his arm, so perfectly healed it didn't look like it had been a recent injury.

"Wait, you said it was a dragon," Monne interrupted. "So, it is the Ancient Ones? We had been thinking it was, but we weren't sure. It wasn't like there was much else it could be."

"It is," Nyal said. Monne cursed, dropping her head into her hands. At the movement, the maid rushed forward, wrapping her arms around the stressed Princess.

"Thank you, Minerva," the Princess said, patting at the woman's hands. She looked over at Elora's confused face. "She's a good hugger. I always keep her around at times like this."

The demigod shook her head, trying to get rid of her confusion. "We should get back to the matter at hand," she muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

Minerva the maid moved away, allowing Monne to continue talking. "How did they escape?" she asked, and Elora felt her stomach clench tightly. "They were meant to be stuck behind the Gate. Did someone open it?"

"Yes," Elora said. She took a deep breath, not looking the Princess in the face, and began to tell her everything that had happened with Darren, the hybrid dragon. Nyal jumped in to tell details of what happened in Fiume and at the Gate itself. She could feel shame washing over her at every mention of their failure, wishing that she could have been a better Gate Keeper, someone all of Veridun could trust.

They eventually drifted to explaining to the Princess how they managed to make it from the basin of the Fiume River to Maheem, detailing every single encounter they had with the Zlohiel, especially Gaizma. She told the Princess about the realm Yararanje had shown her and how Gaizma had gotten in charge.

"I don't know what I'm meant to say," Monne said once the four of them had finished. "Is there any way to get them back through the Gate?"

"No, your Highness," Nyal replied, looking to Elora for confirmation.

She shook her head. "For one thing, the Gate is on the other side of Veridun," she said. "For another, Gaizma told me it was gone. I can only assume he's either lying or he has destroyed. I'd rather not journey back on a possibility."

Monne sighed, pushing at her long hair. "Do you know of any way to defeat them?" she asked, hope forming on her young face.

"No," Elora answered, hating how quickly the hope fell from Monne's face. "We're able to kill them, but there is no way we would win this war with brute strength alone. We simply don't have the numbers or the strength to do it. I'm trying to think of something, but so far I've got nothing."

"You can't make another Gate?"

"No. I didn't make that on my own, I had the help of a group of extremely powerful warlocks," she explained. "It took a long time, more time than we have right now. There's only one warlock around right now that could match the strength of the warlocks back during the first war." she glanced at Nyal, who looked at the table sheepishly as if embarrassed by his own skill.

Monne hissed in a breath, her face turning red and her hair growing frizzy. "Then what do you expect us to do?" she asked.

"Train," Elora answered as though it were the simplest thing in the world. "We will help. I've been fighting these things for centuries. We also have a book with information on every single species of Zlohiel there is. I will try to find something to stop them permanently, I just need you to buy me some time."

"How much time?" Monne asked.

"I don't know," Elora answered with a frown. "As much as you can give me."

"I'll see what I can do," the Princess said. "In the meantime, I want you training my soldiers. If they are going to buy you time, they need to be able to fight these things off. You said you had a book?"

Nyal pulled the fabric wrapped tome from his backpack, placing on the table gently, as though it were delicate. He pulled the fabric away, revealing the weather-beaten book. It had taken damage during their trip, some of the pages were loose and threatening to fall from the leather restraints of the cover.

Elora liked the thought that even after so long Corpius was still able to help her defeat the Zlohiel. He had been dead centuries, but his knowledge had lived on inside his book. "This has information on every form of Zlohiel we encountered in the first war," she started. "It has weaknesses and any other information you may find useful."

Monne grasped the book gently as if sensing its age. "Minerva," she said, looking behind her at the quiet maid. "I want this taken down to Simon. Get him to make copies of it. We're going to need more than one copy of this thing."

"Be careful with it," Elora said before she could think about the words. She hadn't realised just how precious it was to her.

"Of course, my lady," Minerva the maid replied, nodding her head politely and scurrying from the room, book held tightly in her hands.

"I need you to figure this out as quickly as you can, Elora," Monne started once the maid had left. "My people are in danger. The rest of Veridun is already gone and I don't want to join them." Elora hid her surprise at just how well the Princess was performing as a leader. Her father had taught her well.

"I'll do my best," she promised, feeling like it was a lie. She still had no idea how she was going to get rid of the Zlohiel, and she had very little time to figure it out. She thought about trying to cut a deal with Giazma, but the dragon would kill her the instant she suggested it. "I'll need the help of my companions though, and maybe others from your ranks."

"Of course," the Princess agreed. "Do let me know who you'll be taking though. The General and I like to keep an eye on where everyone is."

"I will."

"Good," Monne said. "I have one last thing to ask of you for now. At least once a day, can Sir Belthorne please go to the infirmary and heal those who are sick or injured? It wouldn't just help me, but you as well. To buy you as much time as you ask, we need as many men as possible."

"You don't even have to ask, your Highness," Nyal replied. "There's more than enough water here for me to heal everyone."

Monne breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she said. "I can already tell that having you all here is going to help us greatly. I just hope you can figure all this out."

"So do we, Monne," Elora replied. She still had no idea what she was going to do, but hopefully, now she would have time to find a solution. Her father had said she would be the one to do it, with Nyal's help. All she needed to do was find a way to rid the realm of the Zlohiel, using the limited resources she had.

"I'll have Minerva show you to your rooms when she comes back," the Princess said. "And you're all invited to my coronation in two weeks."

The three men thanked her politely, while Elora said, "I was wondering why you were still a Princess. Your father was a good man, what happened to him?"

Monne sighed, looking down at the mahogany table with sad eyes. "He was visiting Furov when those things first reached Planina. He was killed in their attack and the town was destroyed. One of his surviving guard members brought his body back to be buried. We've been organising my coronation ever since, but obviously more important things have gotten in the way of that."

Elora frowned, looking down at the table. Monne's father had been a good king, one who looked after his people as best he could. She could only hope that Monne was the same. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "I liked your father."

"He was amazing," Monne whispered sadly. "I can only hope that I do as well as he does as monarch."

"I'm sure you will," Elora assured truthfully.

Minerva came scuttling back in then, hands empty. She nodded politely to the group and listened as Monne gave her the order to show them to their rooms. The four of them stood, wishing the Princess well and following the short maid out of the room.

"Be sure to let me know if you need anything, Elora!" Monne called as they went. She looked over her shoulder and nodded, smiling at the young soon-to-be-Queen.

"Well, that went well," Ragen said as they walked down stone halls.

"It did," Elora agreed. "I am sorry you two didn't have much of a say during the meeting though."

"Oh, it's fine," Mikhail replied. "We answered the questions she gave us, that was all we needed to do. We will help out with training people though. We do have experience fighting the Zlohiel."

"Of course, that would be most helpful."

"I might have to go through some training myself," Ragen muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "I need to work out how to use this damn arm properly. I was too reliant on using both of them."

"Not many people are prepared to lose an arm, Ragen," Mikhail said.

"That may be true," Ragen replied. "But I still need to learn how to function with just the one. This is the perfect opportunity to do so."

"You're not doing it alone."

"I should hope not."

Elora felt a small smile form on her face, glad that there was some semblance of normality among them, despite everything that was going on. Ragen and Mikhail still acted the same with each other as they had when Elora had first met them. She guessed that some things would never change.

Minerva led them to four well-furnished rooms, telling them to let her know if they needed anything. She was about to leave when Elora called out to her. "We'll actually only be taking three rooms. Nyal and I will share," she said.

Minerva didn't seem fazed by the news, only nodded her head. "The second room to the left will be suitable for two people," she mumbled, barely loud enough for Elora to hear her. She ignored the confused look Nyal shot her and waved the maid away politely.

"Ragen and Mikhail will take that room," she said to Nyal's raised eyebrow. "We will have the ones on the right."

Mikhail looked taken aback. "Thank you," he said. "You didn't need to do that."

"I assumed you two would feel a lot more comfortable, but I don't know how accepting Planina is," she explained. "So, saying it was Nyal and I sharing the room was easier."

Mikhail said nothing in response, looking like he was struggling to find the right words. Ragen rolled his eyes and pushed past him, making his way over to the room they were now going to share. "Come, I need to sleep for a while," he said pushing the door open. Elora caught a hint of a smile on his face as he disappeared through the doorway.

Mikhail followed after him, his hand brushing lightly against her arm and pushing at the soft cloth of her cloak. A silent thanks that filled her with unexpected warmth. His disappeared quickly after Ragen, wishing the pair outside a good night's sleep.

"You didn't need to do that," Nyal said once the door had closed.

"It felt like the right thing," she replied. "After everything I have put them through, they deserve some kind of happiness, even for a little while."

Nyal huffed, a smile pulling at his cheeks. "You've changed," he told her.

"Is that a good thing?"

"It's a great thing."

Elora didn't know what to say in response, settling for changing the subject instead. "Do you think we can do it?"

"Of course," Nyal answered. "We have to, don't we?"

Just because they had to, doesn't mean they would succeed. That thought alone chilled Elora to the bone.