Amelia Merlin and the Game for Okamila

Part 26: Leaving High Valley

"Of course, my lord." Axel bowed deeply. They stood in the Hall of a Thousand Trees, no one else was in ear shot, except probably one of Brice's spies.

"I'm no lord." Alakai shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. "Just keep things in order okay? I don't need your brother messing this up."

"Yes of course." The grim look did not suit his round usually happy looking face.

The Gorodetsky brother seemed to understand so he said his farewells and left Ipsum in his care. Al had never really liked High Valley. It wasn't much of anything. It wasn't as cunning, nasty, interesting, or as beautiful as any of the other cities. But where they were going next was probably even less impressive than this place. The most godsforsaken realm in the entirety of the kingdom.

The Mountains of Sillage were not an inviting place to anyone except the people who had lived there their entire lives. Al returned to the mass of people outside of High Valley. The Queen's army was the largest it had ever been as they rode towards the mountains. Al rode between the Monatheon's. Blaxton was grumbling on about something that Al didn't care to listen to until he said,

"It makes no sense why we are heading north to the mountains, we should head west to the desert." He all but growled at Al.

Al sighed heavily. "Who's job is it to plan battle strategy?"

"Yours." Blaxton said sullenly. "But if you're going to make a fucking mess-"

"It's smart, Blaxton." Moira's clear voice rang out, saving Al from having to explain his thinking to the idiot northerner. "Nobody ever recognizes the mountain tribes. They're an untapped resource we can use to our advantage. The south will never suspect it. It's a good move."

"But west-" he started.

"Will you shut up about the west?" Moira laughed. "It makes you sound simple."

Blaxton shot her an angry look that just made her raise her eyebrows. Al couldn't help but admire her. Blaxton was like a physical embodiment of norther people, he was good at fighting, loyal to a damn fault, stupid and honourable. But Moira Monatheon was the North itself. She was the land, strong, unyielding, and tougher than just about anything anybody had ever seen. Al remembered the other Monatheon child, he didn't really seem like he belonged but perhaps the pouty mongrel had grown into himself a bit more since the last time he'd seen him.

They rode hard, for days on end. Each night they set up the tents and made camp. The scouts were nearly dead from exhaustion, they were fantastic at their job, best in the whole kingdom but Al was working them too hard. They needed a break.

Back in his tent, Al poured Jeremy a glass of wine. They'd finished eating their supper which consisted of bread and rabbit.

"Any word on Amelia?" He asked.

"She's doing better. Fred's with her." He replied.

"I haven't met that one. He nice?"

"Yeah he's a good lad. They grew up together. He's her best friend."

"Thought those twittering girls were her best friends?"

Jeremy shook his head. "If it took her nearly four years to tell them about Akkedis then they aren't her best friends."

"Fair enough." Al conceded. "I don't know what it is about your sister, but I just know she's going to sit on that throne."

"The Eye said the prophecy isn't about her." He pointed out.

Al shook his head fiercely. "Nobody has heard that prophecy before. We don't know what it says really. We just have people who remembering hearing it, which makes it inaccurate as hell. Amelia will be queen. I know it."

"It's odd to see people believe in her." Jeremy confessed. "I mean I do too, but I'm her brother, it doesn't really count."

"People really do believe in her don't they? She got the bloody northerners to fight for her." He chuckled dryly. "Honestly, I took her North first because I thought they would turn her away and I wanted her to know just how difficult this would be. She did not perform as I expected."

"Yeah well she was never one to do the sort of thing." He smiled to himself and took another sip of wine.

"Even the damn Dellisandro's gave up their precious Knights of the Lake for her! That's madness."

"Thing you gotta remember about my sister, is that she is more capable and more powerful than anyone knows. And I don't mean about her magic."

"She really is something else." Al said in admiration.

"She's a leader." Jeremy agreed.

"She's a queen."

That night, in one of the tents, a slightly chubby boy with auburn hair sat alone drinking a bottle of moonshine. Sam was alone in the army, his friend was being hunted down as a deserter by three fairly frightening men and there was nothing he could do about it. He'd written to Rose but didn't get a response. Apparently she was too busy being pregnant to think about the love of her life.

Same hated her. He hated the woman who had broken his best friends heart. He hated the girl who married another man right before Marco's eyes and swore to love him for all eternity. He despised the silver princess for not caring that Marco was an outlaw, that he was dead inside from her betrayal. The only reason he wouldn't kill Rose Monatheon if he saw her now was because it would only bring Marco more pain, wherever he was. And that was the last thing the poor man needed.