Elsa's POV

The day's blended into each other. It was always the same. I woke up at dawn, ate my ration of oatmeal, and joined the other archers for training. They all seemed easy enough to get along with, Thorn being the only exception. Thorn was the silent type. He did the training with the rest of us, but never joined in our friendly conversations. He had very little skill with the bow.

Sanho was from an eastern province, and he was coming to war in place of his dying father. Out of the other archers, Sanho held the most skill with the bow.

Dimiscus was always joking and in a good mood. He was good with a bow, and came from a southern province like myself. He was the head of his household, with a wife and baby boy to go back to.

Hans was the same as when I had first met him. He laughed easily. He was an excellent archer, better than even myself. He expected us to follow his every order, whatever it may be.

Out of all of he trainees, I had the most skill with the bow. Through hard work my aim had steadily improved. Now I never missed a shot, no matter what the distance. This did not go unnoticed by Commander Frost, who had gone to each training group to check on their progress.

"I've never seen such accuracy in a new archer," Commander Frost told me. "Have you been to war before?"

"Never," I told him, fighting not to meet his eyes. It was difficult. I was afraid if our eyes met, he might see me for who I really was.

"The army will move out very soon," he told me. "When it does, I have a special job for you. General Hans received a similar task. You are to pick off the generals in the battle to come."

"Aren't all archers supposed to do that?" I asked. Commander Frost shook his head.

"That is a rumor we like to maintain, in order to protect our truly dangerous archers," he explained. "Usually only two or three archers have the skill to take out generals and commanders. The rest are simply there to distract and act as a shield."

"I'll do my part," I promised. Commander Frost slapped me on the back.

"Good man. I have business to attend to, but keep up the good work."

The next day we were all summoned to the pavilion. Commander Frost had us line up before making his announcement.

"We have been called to battle!" he declared loudly. The men all cheered. "Our fellows need us! Pack up camp! We march out in one hours time!"

The men cheered a second time before breaking off to do as Frost commanded. When I reached the tent, Kristoff had already put almost everything away.

"So," I said. "We're off to war."

"I'm just glad you're an archer," he told me. "It'll keep you out of trouble."

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked.

"I've been assigned to the front lines," he said, staring off into the distance. "I'll be among the first that charge into battle."

I didn't know what to say to that. There wasn't much to say. Kristoff had been given a dangerous position. I only hoped he would survive to come home.

"Do you need help?" I asked.

"No, I've got it," he told me. "Go rest for a few minutes. This may be your last chance."

I had no idea how right he was.

Jack's POV

"Our reports say that the invading army is moving quickly," I told the gathered generals. "They've already nearly cut our forces in half. We're the last line of defense before the capital."

"If the seasoned warriors couldn't stop them, how could our men hope to have any chance?" General Young asked.

"We can hope to delay them while the rest of the army recuperates and catches up," I explained. I pointed at the map on the table. "If we catch them here, on the Dragon Hills, then they'll be trapped when the army returns and hits them from behind. Hopefully they'll be destroyed."

"It's a risky move," General Hans said thoughtfully. "We'll have to hope that our men can hold out long enough."

"They will be able to," I said. "And we have you and Alexander. Together you should be able to help remove their leaders."

"You're putting a lot of faith in two people," he told me.

"In times like these, we have to put faith somewhere," I replied.