A Sweet Embrace

Gianni leaves the academy. He cannot help but feel relief and happiness. Relief for being finally able to face his father without any feelings of remorse. Happiness for the mended bond that they shared that was torn by pride. The winter winds are cold but his heart is warm with joy. He can finally wear a smile as he leaves the academy for the third time because of his father's approval.

He rides back to Chelsea Street and right to Main Street. It is late morning and the fear from the conflict ensues on the streets of Tracy. The snow covers most of the pavements beside the road. The cold snow and the trembling fear of the citizens creeps to Gianni. His smile fades away, like the sun as winter clouds arrive. He hears the paranoia in Main Street.

He hurries back to the palace. The more he tarries, the more he feels tense and uncomfortable. On the ramparts of the gates surrounding the palace, not a single knight can be seen as they are all already deployed outside the Capital. There are a few left who are in charge with palace security and order. The guards who are at the gate looks overworked and fatigued. They are grumpy and their faces never reveals any sign of morale.

Gianni returns to his quarters. As he slowly opens the door, he stumbles upon Prince Julien, who is reading a book. He is waiting for his return. The book's title is The Art of War, Gianni catches a glimpse of it before the prince can hide it when he notices Gianni returning.

"Your Highness," Gianni bows down, "to what do I owe the visit?"

"Cur the formalities," Prince Julien gets closer to Gianni. He suddenly places his arms around him, locking him tightly. "I'm glad you are safe."

"Your Highness," Gianni returns the hug. As their two bodies collide, Gianni feels the urge to never let go. The warmth and comfort of Prince Julien's hug is ecstasy. Gianni instantly forgets about the war, the tension, and the fear that creeps inside him. He cannot stop himself from succumbing into the arms of the man whose touch calms his soul.

Prince Julien feels the same. As soon as he sees Gianni, he feels as if he sees a treasure so great theat all the empires in the world would unite. Their embrace continues on until Gianni realizes that is about to fall asleep. He breaks free and sits down on his bed to collect his throughts.

"Are you all right?" Prince Julien asks. "You look flustered. Do you have a fever?" Julien touches his forehead.

"I'm all right, Your Highness." Gianni touches his hand, reassuring him. "I don't feel ill or anything."

"Were you hurt on your mission?" Julien inspects Gianni's body. He holds Gianni's face and looks for any injury. He proceeds down to his neck and even bares his chest to check for any wound.

"I'm fine. I wasn't in the front lines. All I could do was treat the injured knights from the rear."

"And you did great, I heard. I'm so proud of you."

"Yes, but it's not over yet," Gianni's face retains the tension. "The south needs to be freed."

"It's not," Julien holds Gianni's hand, "but we will get through this together. I promise that I will protect you, even if it costs me everything. Je serai la." Prince Julien embraces Gianni again, kissing his forehead. He stands up and bids his goodbyes. "I love you, we will get through this." He closes te door behind him.

The Essenia-occupied southern territories finally declares their annexation. Some lands lands finally falls to the iron of the south, while some bannermen of the Grandiflora House continue to fight for their independence and sow loyalty to the Gallian crown. Magnolia, the first fallen city, becomes the Capital of the annexed territories. Other southern counties, Lyone, Basille, Posseth, and Macreigh, have also been annexed, with their nobles either in subjugation or eradication.

The southwestern border territories, Syngh and Lancalster's ruling families are related the crown and swears absolute fealty to them. Meanwhile, to the north, the ruling noble of Scostia falls from grace after investigations proved that it is the head of the house that ordered the assassination attempt on Princess Ariana.

Scostia is Leon's home territory. He leads an investigation against his ruling lord, which he served a long time ago. He gains the support of the masses, as the ruling lord is corrupt and tyrannical. After finding decisive evidence to prove the noble's guilt, the populace revolts against the noble and the nobility falls.

Leon becomes a symbol of inspiration to all Scostians. A knight who rose from poverty and saved the future queen. When the Essenians begin their southern campaigns, it is Leon who takes charge of the Scostian forces and following a royal decree marches down south.

It has been long since Leon receives a letter from Princess Ariana. He knows of the the wedding that took place, but he knows that his feelings for the princess is true, and that the princess loves him, too.

Why would she send that letter if her feelings are untrue? Was she playing with me all along? He asks himself wildly. Deep inside, despite all the doubts that his mind throws at him, he knows that they love one another. However, when he looks at Luke, the orphan he took in as his squire, he always realizes how different their worlds are, that nobility is not for the common.

Leon leads the Scostian forces into Syngh, and after evacuating most of the Synghian populace up north to safety, Leon and his forces fortifies the territory, deploying scouts and spies throughout. Their base of operations is Eratu, the Capital of Syngh. Eventually, the city becomes a stronghold and a stepping stone for the alliance to reclaim the south.

It is the third week of their defense and their supplies starts dwindling. Though they score victory after victory, cleverly using terrain and tactics, they could not procure any more supplies nor steal from the enemy army, as they would burn them all before they can get their hands on them.

"Sir," Luke approaches him carrying an inventory report in his hands, "our supplies would only last for three more days."

"Are there anymore towns we haven't searched?" Leon places his left hand on Luke's right shoulder looking at the map of Syngh that hangs from the wall of castle Eratu.

"I'm afraid we have searched every town close to the Capital, sir." Leon stays quiet and leans against a table facing Luke. His view shifts from Luke's face to the open window. He takes a deep breath as he walks towards the window and looks at his men, who are both older and more experienced than him.

"What should we do, Luke?" Leon turns to him. "Are the men's morale beginning to dwindle as well?"

"Well," Luke approaches Leon and moves closer to the window, taking a peek outside, "the men have been in high moral ever since our first victory. They have great respect for you and I'm confident that they will follow you to the grave, sir. I would follow you to the grave."

"Well," Leon, places his left hand on Luke's head and shakes his hair, "I'm sure that is what you think. Thank you for your report, you may return to your post."

Luke leaves Leon to ponder about his future decisions. Leon has to make a decision soon or everything would be all for naught. They can either wait for supplies to come to them or flee north to the territories still bound to the Gallian crown. Leon leaves his office, cheking the rest of his men. The southern climate makes hunting and foraging difficult. Everything is scarce.

"As some of you might have known, our remaining supplies will only last for three days. We can either send someone to the Capital and plea for help or we can flee altogether north. I need your help in making this important decision," he announces to his men.

"Wherever you go commander, we will go with you," an older knight replies. "Our sword shall be loyal to you."

"Whatever your decision is, we will follow you even to the grave," another knight says.

"I seek your wisdom in this important matter…" he is about to speak when Luke interrupts him with an idea.

"We can go further south and aid Lancalster with their defense," Luke suggests, "that way, we can help them and they can help us. Lancalster is a wealthy territory so they may still have a lot of supplies left."

Everyone welcomes this idea and settles on it as their future action. The next three days is mysteriously peaceful for their forces. Neither a single Essenian soldier tries to attack nor a single spy reports any Essenian movement. They begin to depart southward and rides as fast as they could. White snow blankets the southern meadows. The hooves of the horses create tracks across the great plains. The wind is chilly but they continue on.

At long last, they see the great river of the Reyne. The river flows through Calcister, the Capital city of Lancalster. They all think it strange why they still have not encountered any enemies. It is too suspicious that they stop at the deltas of the river to regroup and secure the surrounding areas. When everything is secure, they continues on their way eventually reaching Calcister. But a shocking revelation surprises them.

"We were too late," Leon says as he sees the blazing city from afar. The smoke darkens the sky and even the heat of the flames can be felt from where Leon and his army where. "Retreat," Leon shouts. Then suddenly, an arrow flies towards his left shoulder. The impact pushes him off his horse. Essenians appear out of thin air, and they are completely surrounded.

Meanwhile, at that moment, Princess Ariana pricks her finger due to an iron pin. She then feels that something bad happened. She goes outside of her room and looks south from the palace's ramparts. Not minding the cold, she looks for a sign of reassurance. But the sign does not reveal itself. Blood from his finger drips on the frozen stone floor, freezing and solidifying as they reach the ground.