Bound to the North {Complete!}

05| Unanticipated

Finn POV

"Well boys, another successful night!" General Kahn yelled the on night after the raid, pumping his fist in air. Sitting beside me, Amara rolled her eyes. As the only woman on Kahn's force, she was always overlooked, even though the raid would never have been possible without her.

I clapped Ozio on the back. "Did I do okay?" he asked me.

"You were amazing, dude!" I exclaimed. In my absence, Ozio had taken the role of captain and done a fantastic job. He'd successfully looted a fairy town, and gotten almost all the troops back over the border before the fairy army came.

The force whooped with joy and Ozio's brown-skinned head disappeared into a crowd of excited people. I sighed and sat down again beside Amara. "You don't seem very happy about the raid," she observed.

"I just wish I'd been there," I said sullenly. But was that really it?

Then the beer started going around. Amara and I both turned it down. After just an hour, the whole force was passed out but the two of us. "Someone's gotta stay sober," Amara said.

I nodded. "You never know when there could be—"

All of a sudden, bronze alarm bells started ringing and clanging from the castle. "Invaders!?" Amara exclaimed. I stood up in a panic. The entire force was passed out but us! "Don't just stand there!" Amara shrieked. She grabbed my hand and we sprinted at full speed out of the pub and toward the castle.

"Go on lockdown!" I yelled at a guard at the entrance. "No one goes in, no one goes out!" I drew my bow and Amara her sword.

I heard a sharp yell coming from the direction of Lord Pelos's study. We charged across the ballroom and the library, and burst inside. Amara's sword clanged to the ground as she rushed to aid Pelos, who was laying on the ground, his face sickly green. She broke a healing rune over him, but no change occurred.

"He's unconscious!" Amara yelled. I kept my bow drawn, in case someone came back. Then a sudden scream came from the library.

"Stay with Pelos!" I commanded. I rushed toward the sound of the noise, to face a cowering girl who's name I thought was Gemma.

"Did you see who it was?" I demanded. She only stood there shaking. "Gemma!" I shouted.

"A—a fairy!" she stuttered.

"You're scared of a fairy?"

"There was fire in her eyes. She threw some sort of potion at me, but it missed."

"Looking for me?" a sarcastic voice warbled. I whipped around to face...the girl from the woods?!

"Y—you?!" I hissed.

"Do I know you?" she laughed. That's when I realized that this wasn't the girl I knew. They looked alike, except for their eye color. But they were different mainly in the way this woman held herself. She had the confident poise of a trained warrior; the eyes of a soldier fired up for battle.

She threw a glass of green liquid at me. It missed, and shattered behind me. I grabbed a flare rune and smashed it. Only seconds later, Amara appeared behind the girl and planted a boot in her skull. The woman toppled to the ground.

                                                                         ***
Soon enough, the force showed up. The girl was taken to the dungeons, where she was interrogated. So far, the only thing she'd told us was that her name was Irene and she was a princess in the fairy kingdom.

Lord Pelos was taken to the infirmary, his condition neither worse nor better. He was still passed out, his skin still sickly green.

A sample of the potion that had been broken behind me was taken for investigation, and the doctors determined it was the same potion that Pelos had been hit with. The council had just called a meeting to discuss the cure.

Amara and I now sat at that meeting. Lord Samden, my father, and General Kahn were present, along with a few others whose names I did not know. As Lord Pelos was absent, my father was head of the council.

"General Kahn," my father, Lord Felix, drawled. "While your force was passed out drunk, these two alone," he gestured to us, "saved a civilian, captured the invader, and got Lord Pelos to a hospital in time. I hope you have something to say for yourself—"

"—I apologi—" Kahn started.

"—at a later date." He shot Kahn a glare. "A cure has been found for Lord Pelos, a rare flower located only in the silver woods, which all of you know is located on fairy territory. As a reward for my children's wits and quick-thinking, they will take the quest to retrieve the flower.

A man of justice, my father was. He believed in always giving people the correct rewards and punishments. I stood up. "I'll take the quest by myself," I objected. Amara looked up at me in surprise. "One person will attract half the attention of two," I justified.

My father, after a few moments of thought, nodded slowly. "You want to redeem yourself for two nights ago. I understand. In that case, Amara, you'll lead a direct attack on the fairy castle as a diversion for Finn."

Amara's eyes widened in shock. "L—Lord Felix, I'm no...general."

"You are as of today," our father said. "Kahn, you've been demoted to Captain."

"What?!" Kahn spluttered, jolting to his feet.

"You allowed all but two people on your force to pass out drunk! You jeopardized the entire kingdom! Enjoy your time as a normal troop, Captain Kahn."

"You have no right!" Captain Kahn hissed.

"I have every right" Felix laughed. "General Amara, go prepare your troops for battle. Finn, get ready for your mission."