Lady Katherine Harrington of Johanne

12 October, Year 1 of Sebastian VI, Emperor of the Longbournian Nations' reign

Longbourne Military Academy for Women, Amöneburg

The Longbournian Nations

"Holy shit."

I turned around to see where the Princess was looking. A group of another eight, masked men stood at the entrance of the stables. They took one look at Prince Heinrich's corpse, and began to storm their way towards us.

"My, my, my, Mistress Harrington," the Princess murmured next to me, "I do believe we are sorely outnumbered." She gave me a side-glance.

I knew what she was expecting me to say. Just as Corporal Johnson had wanted me to, the Princess was waiting for me to tell her that we must flee the area instead of fighting our enemies - for her safety.

However, she was a trained Archery Mistress in her own right, as was I. If she truly wished to fight, why should I force her to turn away from battle merely because she was a Princess?

A wry smile played about my lips. "Now, has that ever stopped you, Mistress Hohenstaufen?"

Her sea-green eyes twinkled in approval. "I knew I was right about you," she beamed, "come, let us make them wish they were never born."

With that, we confidently strode forward towards them.

The condescending pricks did not even take out their swords from their sheaths. Instead, they attempted to catch hold of us, mayhap because the both of us were shorter than them, and they assumed it would be less tiring to simply tie us up rather than fight us.

They were mistaken, and very much so.

One of the men lunged towards me with his arms wide. I crouched before his arms could come around me, and punched him hard in the stomach, causing him to fall back like a ton of rocks.

When I looked up, I found that the Princess, was so focused on blocking the blows of the man in front of her, had apparently not noticed the one who was about to grab her from behind.

"Princess, duck!"

She obeyed at once. The both of them had not expected her to crouch, and hit out at each other instead. They both staggered back, wincing.

Hearing movement behind me, I backhanded a fist at the man who was about to grab me from behind, hearing the satisfying crack as my fist made contact with his nose.

"Mistress Harrington, watch out!"

She caught hold of another man's arm that was about to strike my face from the side, and twisted it behind his back. Muttering a thanks to her, I took over and aimed a well-deserved kick behind his knees, forcing him to the ground. For good measure, she also sprinted and latched herself onto the man behind him before he could reach us. Even as he struggled to be rid of her, she wrapped her legs tightly around his middle, and rained blow after blow to his head, his face, his chest.

In the meanwhile, another man's arms had grabbed me by my middle, and lifted me up. I elbowed him repeatedly, and thrashed around for all it was worth, trying to injure him sufficiently to release me. However, he simply grunted and tightened his hold on me, shouting out instructions to his comrades to get some rope to subdue me.

"Mistress Harrington, kick him!"

"I am trying!"

"Nay, I mean kick him," the Princess yelled at me, "kick him where it hurts the most!"

I needed no further explanations.

Taking a deep breath, I raised my leg, and with everything I had in me, I kicked back hard at his groin. He released me at once, fell to the ground, and groaned so loudly that I was certain that all of his ancestors could feel his pain.

Satisfied that he would not be able to stand anytime soon, I strode towards the Princess to help her with the man she was currently fighting with.

The four men who had initially held her down when Prince Heinrich had been alive, also soon joined the battle, and it was a very, very difficult one. However, it was as if we were unstoppable tonight. It was the two of us against twelve gigantic men, and yet, it was clear we were winning.

Every time the men we had beaten up rose again to try and subdue us again, we always made sure that their faces met the ground once more.

I smiled to myself, as I felt beads of perspiration trickling down my face. Almost, I thought to myself, a few more minutes, and they will all be thrashed beyond recognition -

At that very moment, a loud, deep horn went up in the distance, shattering all other noises plaguing the area. The horn sounded exactly ten times in quick succession, before all was silent once more.

Our enemies stopped fighting us at once.

Without another word, they wriggled from our grasps, and quickly walked – or crawled, or dragged themselves - away from us, and sprinted out of the front door, leaving behind a dead Prince Heinrich.

The Princess and I exchanged mystified glances, panting. "What was that?"

***

"Matron, I am all right!"

The Princess was disgruntled, as one of the Academy Matrons attended to each one of the bruises on her face and her arms in the sanatorium, fussing over her in extreme concern.

I watched her in amusement from the bed next to hers.

For an answer, the Matron simply held some ice wrapped up in a handkerchief against her badly bruised cheek, causing her to yelp out loud.

"Matron, see, Mistress Harrington has more bruises than me!" the Princess pointed at me, "you must treat her first. I only have a few!"

I rolled my eyes, laughing. "Very mature, Mistress Hohenstaufen."

"A few? A few?" the Matron was almost hysterical, "Your Serene Highness, I see more blue-black patches than your fair skin!"

She then turned to me. "And you are another one, Mistress Harrington!" she scolded me, "have you girls no care for yourselves? Young 'uns these days...." She mumbled away, applying some salve on my bruises as well.

The Princess and I exchanged amused glances behind her back, before I looked around the rest of the room.

The sanatorium was crowded with my several of my colleagues, who had been injured during the fierce fight they had put up against the attackers, some more gravely than others. The numbers would have been much higher if the battle had been fought till the end.

Even now, I could not help but wonder. If the attackers had truly intended to destroy the Academy, why had they left in the middle of the battle? What did those ten horns signify?

At that moment, I heard a large commotion outside the sanatorium. Raised voices and a thunder of footsteps grew louder and louder as they approached the room.

The Princess sighed. "Damn it."

"Why?"

"All that noise outside," she gestured to the door, "it must be my brother. I left the Palace earlier in the evening without informing anyone." She admitted sheepishly.

"Well, he must be very worried for you, especially after this attack on the Academy," I pointed out, "and Her Majesty too, no doubt."

She shook her head. "The Dowager Empress," she answered quietly, "does not give a damn about my existence unless I can do something for her."

Before I could ask her what she meant by that, the double doors burst open.

As the Princess had predicted earlier, Emperor Sebastian strode in with all haste, towering over everyone present. He was followed closely behind by a few of my colleagues and Captain Keitel. His countenance was extremely pale and drawn with exhaustion, and his sea-green eyes, full of unspoken anxiety, sought out his sister in the room.

The Princess raised her hand when she noticed him at the door. "Here, Brother-mine."

He was at her side in a moment, rather stunned by the number of bruises she had suffered. He slowly sat down on the edge of her bed, his eyes wide with worry.

The Matron quickly excused herself with a small curtsey. He hardly noticed her, or anyone else around him, for that matter.

"Oh, do not be so sad, Brother-mine," the Princess remarked dryly, "trust me, it only looks worse than it is."

A smile tried to creep up his lips, but failed.

Her expression softened. "I am all right."

"By God, Natalya, you almost frightened me to my grave today," he eventually found his voice, "no one knew where you were all evening, and then Captain Keitel comes and tells me there has been an attack on the Academy....why did you not inform me, or anyone else, before you left the Palace?" He fingered the bruises on her face, haunted.

She looked away from him. "I was angry."

He was perplexed. "Why?"

"How could you and our Lady Mother entertain Florencia's envoy without consulting me first?"

His forehead creased. "Florencia's – "

She glared at him. "Do not dare pretend that you do not know what I am talking about, Brother-mine. Our Lady Mother was telling me today about how she would have me married off to the Crown Prince of Florencia by summer next year - "

He shook his head. "'Tis true the envoy brought a proposal from Crown Prince Wilhelm for your hand in marriage, Natalya," he explained solemnly, "but I have refused to discuss the subject of your marriage with him. You told me you needed time to recover, and I remember and respect that."

"But our Lady Mother – "

"Our Lady Mother was most likely hoping she could persuade you to change your mind," he smiled kindly, "but the decision is in your hands, Natalya. I will never force you to do anything you do not wish to. I thought you knew that."

She fell silent, ashamed. Even I felt slightly discomfited for assuming the same earlier.

He chuckled, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. "You lose your temper all too easily," he shook his head in amusement, "and now look what you have done to yourself." He jested.

While he was speaking to his sister, Captain Keitel, exhausted and wounded herself, approached me and pulled up a chair next to my bed. "How are you feeling, Mistress Harrington?"

I looked away from them. "'Tis nothing, Ma'am," I waved off her concern, "I am only here because Mistress Hohenstaufen and Matron insisted."

"I am glad to hear that," she smiled faintly, "I had been most worried when your fellow Archery Mistresses informed me that you were absent from your designated post during the battle."

"I was going there, Ma'am," I tried to explain, "but - "

"Aye, I am aware that you went on ahead to help the Princess with her own battle, Mistress Harrington. Corporal Johnson informed me afterwards," she assured me without censure, "but please, may I know what happened at the stables?" She asked urgently.

Nodding, I began to narrate what happened there with as much detail as I could, leaving nothing out. When I finished, she seemed extremely disturbed.

"Prince Heinrich of Brauchitsch," she mused, ashen, "oh, Lord. This cannot be good."

Anxiety gnawed at me. "Ma'am?"

She deigned to explain. "Prince Heinrich was one of the Emperor's vassals who objected to forming this Academy," she sighed, "and to many of the Emperor's new policies, which are aimed at bringing equality between the men and women in our country, and raising the quality of life of the poor."

I was puzzled. Those policies seemed like good progress to me.

"The aristocracy in general – the men, especially – are intoxicated by their wealth and power, Mistress Harrington," she explained quietly at the look on my face, "they enjoy their supposed superiority over the poor, and their women. They like the way things have always been."

"However, the Emperor is bent on bringing about change, and most of the lower and middle-class commoners are especially bent on seeing that change happen," she continued darkly, "while the upper tier of the commoners and the aristocracy are bent on resisting it."

"And Prince Heinrich has been...more active than most in resisting it. He has attempted to raise rebellions to overthrow the Emperor from the moment he ascended the throne – but they have always failed due to the lack of support from the public. The Emperor has always pardoned him for each of these treacheries, even though, Lord forgive me, he does not deserve it."

It was then that I remembered the Princess's words from earlier. "That is for betraying my brother, over and over again," she whispered, knowing fully well the dying Prince could still hear her, "he may have forgiven you a thousand times, but I never will. Be damned to hell, you vile creature."

I sighed, as sympathy for the Emperor washed over me. I truly wondered how he managed to remain so cheerful all the time, when he had so many conflicts to contend with.

"Ma'am, I do not think Prince Heinrich was working alone tonight," I remarked quietly, "even after Princess Natalya killed him, the battle continued – inside and outside the stables - until the horn sounded."

"Nay," she agreed with me, "he was definitely working with someone else who wants our Academy closed down. Believe me, there are many of them out there. The question is, why did they stop fighting halfway if they truly intended to destroy it?" She sounded as bothered as I felt.

I nodded, biting my lip, as I tried to think. I felt as if the answer was right before me, and yet, I could not reach it.

In the meanwhile, Captain Keitel had stood up. "In any case, thank you for telling me everything, Mistress Harrington," she patted my shoulder, "do not think about all of this, and rest well first. I will take your leave now. There is much to be done." With that, she gave me a weak smile, and strode out of the sanatorium with all urgency.

I stared after her, lost in my thoughts.

"Mistress Harrington?"

Startled, I glanced to my side at the sound of the Princess's voice. She was sitting all by herself once more, and the Emperor was no longer in sight.

Had he left already? A frown crept up my countenance. For the life of me, I could not understand the twinge of disappointment I felt at that.

"Mistress Harrington?" she snapped her fingers in front of my face to catch my attention once more, bemused, "where are you lost?"

"Nowhere," I shook my head clear, sheepish, "I apologise, what were you saying, Mistress Hohenstaufen?"

"Well, my brother wanted a word with you, but you were speaking with Captain Keitel, so he was waiting," she answered, "ah, there he is." She pointed behind me.

"If you will excuse me, I need to find Matron," she sighed, "I feel a wretched migraine coming on." Clutching her head, she swung her legs off the bed, and walked away.

In the meanwhile, I turned around to find Emperor Sebastian taking the seat next to my bed that Captain Keitel had vacated earlier. "My sister was right. You do look worse than she does," he remarked quietly, "how are you doing, Mistress Harrington?"

"Thank you for raising my self-esteem, Your Imperial Majesty," my voice was wry, before, "there is no need to worry. I am fine."

He nodded heavily, falling silent once more. His usual cheeriness was absent, and he still seemed rather haunted by the danger his sister had been in tonight.

I decided to cheer him up. "Knock-knock."

Surprised, he smiled uncertainly. "Who is there?"

"A little old lady."

"A little old lady who?"

"Remarkable, Sire," I felt a chuckle rise up my throat, "I did not know you could yodel."

As usual, he was confused. "What is a yodel?"

"Sire, have you never heard of yodelling?" I was surprised, "'tis is how herders call their goats and their cows by the mountain side in Monrique. Here, let me show you."

I cleared my throat. "Yo – del – leigh – hee – hoo!" I cried, "now, does that not sound like a little old lady who, Sire?" I sounded out the words for him.

The Princess, my injured colleagues, and several of the Matrons fell silent and turned around to stare at me upon hearing that sound, clearly convinced that I had lost my mind.

My hand flew to my mouth, embarrassed. Oops, had I been too loud?

In the meanwhile, the Emperor had burst out laughing, clutching the edge of my bed. His broad shoulders heaved with laughter, as a ghost of the usual twinkle in his sea-green eyes returned.

"Let me try, Mistress Harrington," he declared, and cleared his throat, "yo – del – leigh – hee – hoo? Hee-hoo? Hee-hoo?" He frowned heavily, as nothing but air came out of his mouth when his baritone tried to reach the higher notes of the call.

This time, it was I who laughed out loud. "Mayhap you would like to try a lower key, Sire?" I offered helpfully, chuckling, "it may be easier for you."

"But it will not sound as cheerful as yours did!" he complained, dismayed, "nay, I will try it until I get it right."

I watched him in amusement, leaning against my pillows, as he tried again and again. Presently, a tidal wave of exhaustion washed over me, jumbling my thoughts, and a yawn escaped my lips before I could stop it.

My hand flew to my mouth again in embarrassment. "I am so sorry, Sire."

He paused, and looked over at me. "Nay, nay, it is I who should apologise," he admitted sheepishly, "I had so easily forgotten you need to rest. You had a long battle on your hands, and an even longer day."

I stifled another yawn. "I did very little."

"From what Natalya told me, I highly doubt so," he grew serious, as he took my hand in his, "I cannot thank you enough for coming to my sister's aid tonight, Mistress Harrington. I will forever be grateful to you for keeping her safe from Prince Heinrich and his men, at the risk of your own life." His voice was filled with emotion.

I nodded, feeling rather drowsy. I wanted to tell him she could have handled the whole lot of them herself even if I had not come, but I no longer had the energy to.

Moreover, the warmth of his hands felt rather nice.

"I will practise my yodelling outside," he promised softly, "sleep well, and take care. We will speak more tomorrow." He raised my hand to his lips.

That was the last thing I remembered before I succumbed to sleep.

***

When I opened my eyes the next morning, a few things registered on my mind, all at once.

One, my whole body felt as if a battalion of soldiers and their stallions had trampled all over it.

Two, I was no longer in the sanatorium, but on my bed in my dormitory that I shared with Corporals Baudelaire and Montgomery.

Three, the atmosphere was so thick with tension, I could cut through it with a dagger.

"Good, you are awake," Corporal Baudelaire's face loomed over me, "I will bring you some water to drink."

Pushing my head off the pillow, I scooted up into a sitting position, still in a daze. I accepted the glass of water Corporal Baudelaire held out towards me, and sipped on it. From either side of my bed, Corporal Montgomery and Corporal Baudelaire simply watched me, their expressions solemn.

When I finished drinking, I set down the glass on my bedside table decisively. "I have many, many questions," I warned, "and I want answers."

Corporal Montgomery smiled weakly. "As do we," she exchanged glances with her friend, "but since you are the invalid, you can go first."

I decided to ignore her jab. "How is Mistress Hohenstaufen?"

"The Matrons allowed her to return to the Palace at dawn," she assured me, "the Emperor brought her home himself."

"And our colleagues?"

"They will recover with time. None of them perished."

"And our students?"

She fell silent. Even Corporal Baudelaire seemed reluctant to open her mouth.

Dread brewed in the pit of my stomach. "Corporal Montgomery," I repeated slowly, "are our students all right?"

She shook her head, sighing tiredly. "'Tis why those men had attacked us, Mistress Harrington," she revealed, "their intent was never to kill us, or burn down the Academy. The whole battle was merely a distraction, so that they could kidnap a few of our students."

I was stunned into silence for a long while.

"But we had plans in place," I spluttered, "to evacuate them to safety, and a Corporal placed in charge of each of the squads – "

"After we brought our students to their dormitories and locked them in, we were ordered to go and fight as well," Corporal Baudelaire sounded close to tears, "there were too many enemies, and too few of us to fight them. Some of them must have...must have sneaked in to the student dormitories during that time. Oh, God, we did not realise until much later, and it was too late by then." She put her head in her hands.

Corporal Montgomery placed an arm around her shoulders in comfort.

Horror gripped me. "And once they took whom they wanted, they sounded the horn and ceased the battle," I realised, with my eyes wide, "by God, who were taken?"

"Ten of them are missing," Corporal Montgomery remarked quietly, "and all ten are daughters of the aristocracy."

A long silence reigned.

"Ten horns, for ten hostages," I whispered, "what will happen to our girls?"

Corporal Montgomery ran a hand through her hair. "The army is searching for them as we speak, but we suspect that the attackers are holding them hostage," she huffed, "and will not release them safely until we give them what they want."

"And knowing Prince Heinrich was involved," Corporal Baudelaire added darkly, "it is not too difficult to guess their demands."

"Which is?"

"Close down this Academy. Reverse every policy that the Emperor put into place after ascending the throne for the good of his people," Corporal Montgomery spat out, "and so on. In short, bring the Longbournian Nations back to his late father's dark reign."

***