Acropolis

Greater Good and Lesser Evil

The forensics specialists, crime experts, and court persons from town came in disguise and proposed the priests were turning back to their old ways of unicorn sacrifices and found evidence the priests and priestesses were feeding sacrifices of gold to Mother. Many of the priests and priestesses, including Ara, denied this and declared war. (Jason was tried later for stealing and framing the priests but again, this verdict was wishy-washy). War was the most important thing at the moment.

This became a war about wars. The council decided too many smaller problems were creating bigger ones without an overseeing ruler so the unicorn race's conflict of a successor with Prince Razim or Daphne came to be about Acacia or Jason. The wild unicorns wanted Acacia, going with their preference for Daphne, the conventionalist domesticated unicorns wanted Razim, and thus Jason for his preference to control. It came as a surprise Prince Razim was Jason's grandfather.

"I was once engaged to your friend's grandfather," Daphne took Acacia aside after battle.

Jason wasn't born evil but he was born from it; he was born sincere but not bred from sincerity and he could have changed except he never wanted help from anyone.

Whether the council was on Jason or Acacia's side would have depended, for they only oversaw, intercepted, and provided for the battle.

Jason's army marched strongly from the South and Acacia's army marched mysteriously from the North. Ondrea returned. He returned not in a different age like Milko, or ready to rush to Acacia's side. He returned in defeat.

Acacia expected every soldier, even Ondrea, to be vicious but something worse she found—his emotion had been drained. He wasn't just a rigid soldier, but something made of numb jelly.

Jason has drugged them. I just know it.

Despite Kazimir's skepticism, she had known him long enough to entrust him with suspicions and when she told him about the unusual silence and uniformity of Jason's army, Kazimir agreed.

"I've studied enough about substances but Jason is far beyond me in alchemy, I admit."

"I don't ask to imitate his medicine," Acacia countered, "but I ask if we could dismantle it."

"That I don't know of, either." Just when Acacia gave up and thought Kazimir was being useless, Daphne stole from behind. They held their breaths.

"I will be the last general, hopefully, my land has ever known."

Acacia thought she would convince her grandmother that her cousin had been drugged by Jason. Kazimir thought the same thing judging by his knowing glances.

"Grandma, you have tricked death enough. I'm not sure you should do the fighting."

Kazimir opened his mouth in shock, draining his words. He hated when the script practiced in his head didn't turn out as planned.

Daphne grabbed Acacia's soldiers, "If that is what you're really worried about, then that's better than what you could be worried about."

Kazimir tried to interrupt with "um's and uh's" but it wasn't enough. "I've noticed Ondrea has been acting even less like himself lately. And I mean the entire army...entirely Jason's army."

Daphne didn't have words except, "They should only fear themselves but I can't reassure. False confidence would be dangerous." Acacia's stomach dropped and twisted. Kazimir felt the blood drain from his arms and legs.

Acacia met everyone on the battlefield. She did not have to wander tirelessly across unknown territory but it was time chasings and plans, routes and orders, stopped changing. War was inevitable. Whether she could end it wasn't written in tablet, but it couldn't be ended alone. A sure victory in battle did not make the end of war any more certain. She knew somehow a war would have to end eventually but only once everything and everyone was deprived or desolate.