Adam woke up slowly and fitfully, as though his brain wasn't certain his conscious mind could be trusted with running his body. It was probably right, seeing how he’d woken up in the infirmary twice in a row now. Shaking his head to clear it, Adam tried to take stock of his situation. He felt slow and lethargic, probably from blood loss, and there was a dull, stinging pain in his side. It didn’t hurt much at the moment, but it was clearly the kind of pain that promised to flare up into burning agony if he tried to move, so he resolutely didn't. Finally, there was an odd sense of weight and pressure around his left arm… Carefully turning his head, Adam found Amber clinging to his arm like she thought he’d disappear if she let go. The girl seemed to be asleep, but the look on her scarred face indicated she was having troubled dreams. “It’s all right, Amber. I’m fine. It’s all going to be all right.” The girl didn’t wake up, but her vice-like grip did soften a little. “She hasn’t left your side, you know. Not once.” Adam slowly turned his head to the other side, finding Sven standing at his bedside. “I'm surprised the healers allowed that.” He remarked. “They didn’t have much choice. Amber is a princess after all, and she wouldn't take ‘no’ for an answer. Besides, I feel like we need to be really careful with Amber right now. Last night was pretty bad, and you remember how she got last time.” Vague memories sparked in Adam’s still slightly foggy head. The screams of soldiers, the crackle of flames, the fizzle of molten metal and boiling fat, the sickening smell of burning hair and charred flesh… “I don’t think I want to remember.” Sven shook his head ruefully. “I suppose we should have realized something was wrong back then…” “We were children, Sven. And fighting the enemy was ‘doing the right thing’. How were we supposed to know?” “I guess you’re right…” “You can beat yourself up over it later, right now there’s more important things to do. What do we know about the assassin?” “Not much. We think he might have gotten in posing as someone looking for a job, but that’s about it. There isn't much left of the body. He was a good shot, though. If the bullet hadn’t passed through your book it would probably have been a lethal hit.” “It ruined the book? Well, it’s been nice knowing you. I might have survived the bullet, but Master Irons of the Capital Library is probably going to kill me.” But even as he joked, his mind got caught up on something. “Wait, the bullet went through the book? The whole thing?” “Clean through, why?” “That thing was as thick as my arm, and bound in leather! That shouldn’t… Did his weapon survive?” “Parts of it. The stock is mostly gone, but the barrel is largely intact.” “Go get it. Now!” Sven started moving almost without realizing it. Adam might never have been particularly harsh or demanding, but in the end he had always been their leader, and instincts born in wartime were slow to fade. Of course, he wasn't the only one who reacted to Adam’s commanding tone, and as he left the room Amber’s eyes shot open blearily. “What am I getting?” she slurred sleepily. “Not you, Amber.” Adam replied gently, the tone of command gone from his voice. “I was talking to Sven. You can go back to sleep.” “No, no…” She sat up in bed, rubbing at her eyes. “I’m awake. I shouldn’t have been sleeping at all, really. What if they came to take you away again? What if…” Adam reached out gingerly, ignoring the stinging pain in his side, and placed a finger up against Amber’s lips. It was something he vaguely remembered doing back in the old days, whenever Amber started getting too worked up about something. The effect on the girl was instantaneous, stopping her rant dead in its tracks. “No-one’s going to attack me here. We're right at the heart of the castle, and the guard is sure to be on high alert after yesterday. Now, if you feel up to it, I do have something I need you to do.” Amber briefly pressed her lips up against his finger, looking more at peace than she had all morning, but then moved her head back with a sigh. “What do you need?” “I need you to find Lily and bring her here. If my suspicions are correct, we’re all going to need to have a talk.” Amber hesitated, looking around the room warily. “I don't want to leave you, Adam. What if…?” Adam sighed. He hadn't wanted to do this, but he was obviously going to have to. He consciously let the warmth leech out of his voice, replacing it with hard, flat determination. “Amber, find Lily and bring her here.” The scarred girl stopped fidgeting in an instant, the frantic gleam in her eyes being replaced with something far harder and darker. Without another word, she turned and hurried out the door. Adam watched her go before sinking back into his pillow with a soft groan. “That was probably a bad idea…” Lily was standing atop one of the tallest towers in the castle, looking out across the city below. It wasn’t the tallest tower in the castle, that would be the portal tower behind the throne room, but it was the tallest one with a flat top you could get out and stand on. At this height, a cool wind tugged playfully at her clothes and hair, but she couldn’t sense it. Oh, she could feel it just fine, but she couldn’t sense it. With a small sigh, she took out Clear Sky and peered into its cloudy surface. “I am Lillian Stiles, fashion model and socialite. I have a good job, I make plenty of money and I’m satisfied with my life.” It was such a pleasant little lie, so easy to believe. Up until very recently, she really had believed it. It was exactly the way she was supposed to feel, after all. But Clear Sky saw through such lies with ease, and it reflected the lie exactly as it really was. A bit of simple self-deception designed to hide away all her uncomfortable thoughts and feelings where she couldn't see them. “I am Lily, Princess of Air.” The reflection became slightly clearer, just enough to make out the contours of her face, but that wasn't much of an improvement. In the end, Princess was nothing but a title. It was a title she could identify with, but still no more than a title. It wasn't her. “I have no idea who I am anymore.” As she admitted that to herself, the image in the mirror became much clearer. And that, Lily thought, might just be the saddest thing of all. Sven entered the infirmary carrying the barrel of the Assassin’s weapon. The back of it was charred and misshapen, softened by the heat of Amber’s fire, but the tip was fully intact and gleamed in the lamplight. Adam took the piece gingerly and looked it over, noting the thick, sturdy steel construction with a small frown. He peered down the end of the barrel, but it was too dark to see much. “Sven, I need some light here.” Sven lit a candle and held it close to the opening, revealing a series of neat, spiralling groves running down the length of the barrel. Adam swore softly. “Just as I thought , this is a rifle.” “Um, yes?” “No, I mean a real rifle! The barrel is rifled, see? Last time we were here the enemy was using smoothbore muskets. One of those would never have gotten a bullet all the way through a thick, leather-bound tome.” “So they've got better weapons now?” “A lot better. Possibly a few hundred years better, by the standards of our world. Do you know where the healers put the bullet after they got it out?” “Oh, sure. Let me see… Here.” Adam stared dully at the little chunk of metal Sven dropped into his hands. The copper jacket had split in places, revealing the lead core beneath, but all in all the projectile had barely deformed even after passing through the thick tome and a good bit of his flesh. The round-nosed piece of metal was still clearly recognizable as a bullet. “Shit…” Adam swore quietly. “This thing has a full metal jacket.” “I don't really know much about firearms. What does that mean, exactly?” “It means it’s a lead bullet completely covered in a copper shell.” Adam explained in dark tones. “And that means it will go through the metal armour our soldiers wear like tissue paper.” Lily put away her mirror with a sigh. It didn't seem like her reflection was going to get any clearer. Taking a deep breath, she started feeling for the wind around her. It was faint, but she could sense it now. The little flicker of power that rested within the playful breeze. With a determined frown she focused on that energy, urging it to answer to her will… “Adam told us to gather in the infirmary.” As her concentration broke the wind slipped form Lily’s tenuous grasp, and she spun around. “Just a moment, Amber. I almost had it this time.” “No, Adam told us to gather in the infirmary.” And that was when Lily noticed the cold steel lurking in Amber’s gaze, and it all clicked into place. A chill went down her spine, but she still nodded stiffly. “Of course. I'll be down at once.” If Adam told them to gather, that could mean anything, but if Adam told them to gather, that could only mean one thing. War. Adam looked at his friends as they gathered around his bed. There was a deep sense of foreboding in the air, and he could see the tension filling each one of them, like they were anticipating an attack at any moment. He nodded gravely. “I see you understand.” “What’s the what?” Sven asked. It might have sounded informal, almost playful, but they all knew exactly what he meant. “We’ve all noticed that the kingdom has practically stood still since our last visit. Architecturally, socially, technologically. Almost nothing has changed. The same is not true of the enemy.” He held out the barrel of the rifle and the slightly flattened bullet. “By the standards of our world, these weapons are centuries more advanced than the muskets used in the last war. In that fight, we were able to hold them off with superior training and discipline, even in the face of greater numbers and more advanced weaponry. This time, that will not be possible. Armed with weapons like these, the enemy could have cut through the kingdom’s armies at their best, and the army today is far from being at its best. If the enemy mounts a proper assault on our territory, we have already lost.” “Then what are we supposed to do?” Lily asked, hoping against hope that Adam had some sort of plan. “We make sure they don’t attack. Remember the last time we were here? We scoured the wilderness for months to find all the pieces needed to seal away the ‘great evil’, and they split their army into tiny fractions to search for us. It wasn't until we returned to the castle to forge the cage that they mounted a real offensive on the kingdom’s land. The entire time, their primary target was always us.” “So we leave.” Sven said solemnly. “Exactly. Soon enough they’ll hear their assassination attempt failed, and if we're still here when that happens it won't be long until they come after us. We need to leave the kingdom behind, make them search for us. It's the only way to keep the kingdom safe.” “What about you?” Lily asked. “You’re in no state to travel.” “The healers say I’ll be up and moving in three days. That's our deadline…” He faltered for a moment, unused to command after all these years. With a solemn gaze, he looked at each of his friends in turn. “This will not be easy. It will not be safe. It might be the death of us all. If you want to back out now, I’m sure we can convince the goddess to send you back home. I won’t think any less of you if you do.” “As if I’d turn my back on all these people.” Sven scoffed derisively. “What kind of a ‘Prince of Courage’ would I be if I turned tail and fled when you all need my help?” “I didn’t run back then.” Lily continued. “I'm not running now. You’re stuck with me, Adam.” Finally, Adam turned to Amber and was taken aback by the fierce look on her face. “You can’t send me home.” She stated flatly. “I am home.” Adam took a deep breath before nodding. “Then we’re agreed. We leave in three days. Whatever supplies you need to take, gather them. Whatever preparations you need to do, do them. When we leave, there’s no coming back until the war is over. Now go.” His three friends nodded and left, leaving Adam alone in the infirmary. Reaching out gingerly despite the pain in his side, he grabbed First River from the nightstand. There was still so much he didn’t understand. What was the true nature of the great evil they had sealed? Why were the two kingdoms at war in the first place? Could he really trust the words of the goddess? But in the end, that didn’t really matter. Right here, right now, all that mattered was that the people of the kingdom were all in danger. If the enemy attacked them, it would be a slaughter, and he wouldn’t let that happen. No matter what. First River slid easily from its sheath, the ornate steel blade shining in the yellow lamplight. Amber sat in her bedchamber, thoughts tumbling and swirling through her head. There was a lot she didn’t understand. She didn’t understand what made one world different from another. She didn’t understand how people worked. She didn’t understand what made some things ‘right’ and other things ‘wrong’. But she did understand fighting. And if Adam needed her to fight, then she would fight. She would fight anything that wanted to hurt the people she loved until there was nothing left. Doing anything else would be unthinkable. Little floating flames started dancing and swirling around her, bathing the small stone chamber in eerie, flickering light. Sven stood in the courtyard, battered and bruised, eyeing the members of the night guard gathered around him. They were tired and worn, giving him looks that ranged from deep respect to outright fear. He’d probably have to get some fresh troops to take over for them soon. They were slowing down. “Again!” The men charged at him as one, their swords and maces striking harmlessly against his skin of stone. Lily stood atop the tower once more, peering into the murky depths of her mirror. “I am Lily, Princess of Air. I don’t know what I want. I don’t know what drives me. I don’t know why I feel the way I do. But I know this. Where Adam leads, I will always follow. And if he needs me to be a soldier for him, then for as long as he needs me, I will be a soldier.” The face she saw reflected in the mirror was hard and cold, and it seemed somehow younger than it should be, but it was clear. The winds howled and shrieked all around her, but not even the slightest breeze touched her skin.