Unfortunately, when they reached the villa it was starkly obvious that the day still had surprises left.

Eliza immediately spotted her guard deployed in the plaza of the villa. Thalia sat down in the plaza, the soldiers visibly uncomfortable to be so near the elf colossus. The captain approached her.

“A letter arrived, my lady. For you.”

Eliza silently took the envelop the captain held in his hands and left to get into her room. There, she opened the letter:

“My dear Eliza

To my great regret, I must inform you of the passing of your father, Olivier III, 11th king of Astila, in the early hours of the third day of the month of Glee, year 317. You are summoned to Roserun to attend to the funeral, and the coronation.

P.S. If I may ask my lady for a simple favor, I would like to let my apprentice know that her final exam has begun.

Your loyal magister, Stagast Denholm.”

The world crumbled around her. Her father was dead.

And she was not even there when it happened.

She sat on the bed. Tears threatening to break through.

She shook her head. Her father could be quite the piece of work, sometimes. For some reason he was convinced liking girls made her infertile. But he had been a good father, she knew very well that she had been given a lot more freedom than most human princesses: she learned how to ride, how to hunt, how to fight, she was allowed to travel the kingdom freely. Sure, he had never been happy about her behavior or interests, but he never tried to stop her. On the contrary, he defended her in front of the rest of the nobles.

And now he was gone. And she was his only heir. She never thought this day would arrive. She sighed. Maybe she could leave the crown to uncle Richard. If he was still alive, no news of him yet.

She remained still for what felt like hours. Immobile on her bed. Tears flowing down. Eventually she convinced herself she had enough. She did not have time to mourn her father. She took a deep breath, wiped away her tears and tried her best to mask her emotions.

She left the room and went towards the exit, when she recalled the magister’s request. What a strange addition to a letter communicating such grave news. Nonetheless, she made her way to the laboratory.

“Lemi, are you here?”

“Yes, my lady. I’m…” she looked at her “Is everything all right, princess?”

She cursed under her breath. “I just received unwelcome news. In any case, the magister asked me to tell you that your final exam has began.”

Suddenly the young mage perked up, her eyes wide open. “My lady, can I please see the letter? It’s of utmost importance.”

The princess shrugged, then handed the letter.

The mage quickly read it. “My condolences, princess.” Before Eliza could even reply, she took the letter and threw it in the fireplace, where it quickly darkened and crumpled.

“What the hells!” shouted the princess.

Without even looking at her, she reached for the piece of paper, seemingly undisturbed by the flames touching her skin. The letter seemed thoroughly ruined, but the mage dusted the ash away and it returned back normal, as it never touched a fire.

“My final exams were years ago, princess. But the law prohibits to have more than one mage in the court, so I am officially still an apprentice, at least until I decide to leave. He was telling us that he placed a hidden message in the letter. And here it is” said, placing the paper on her desk.

“King poisoned.

Treason.

Imperials present.

Coronation trap.”

The closed fist of the princess crushed into the desk.

“I-I should...”

“I’m not going to lie, Thalia. Without you we are unlikely to succeed, but that does not mean you should feel obligated to join us. You are not one of my vassals or one of my soldiers, I cannot order you to come and I do not wish to do it even if I could. Know, however, that if you do come, you will be likely involved in the fighting.”

“But why do you have to go? You could die!”

“That’s not the plan.”

Thalia sighed, then replied “Well, then I’ll come and make sure you don’t die. But” she swallowed “know that if you get in danger I’ll get you away no matter what” she said, in one breath.

“Then I need to ask you to remain here. I will not abandon my men or those that are still loyal to me in the capital. I owe them that much. I owe my father that much.”

Thalia gritted her teeth, defeated. She was right, as usual. She lowered her head. “I’m sorry, mistress. Please, forgive my arrogance.”

Her princess placed her hand on her knee. “Don’t be like that, my sweet little elf. I know you mean well, you have nothing that needs forgiving. But this goes beyond you and me.” She smiled. “Besides, you had fun scaring some ogres, Imagine scaring an entire castle!”

She smiled, timidly. “That would be kind of fun.”

“So you’ll come?”

“Yes.”

Thalia could feel the heavy gaze of the small column of soldiers riding behind her. She was trying her hardest to step as lightly as she could, in order not to scare the horses. They were not many, the villa’s garrison and the personal guard of the princess, but that’s all they had. Well, them, the princess, that red head mage and herself.

She felt extremely out of place, yet she knew her mistress will need her. She didn’t lie, a little more than two hundred soldiers and a mage were not nearly enough to assault the mighty fortress protecting the capital.

“Thalia, I know you don’t like this, but if we’re luck they will surrender when they see you. After all, they don’t know we managed to get the Tear working, in theory at least” the princess said from her usual position in her hand.

“Technically, we didn’t” the mage added, still trying to process the fact she was traveling on a hand several times her own size. “The Tear did everything.”

“Right” the princess said “but they don’t need to know that.” She looked at her two companions “Here’s the plan: There is a secret tunnel under the castle that leads inside the bastion. If we capture it, we will be in a domineering position, and have access to the dungeon, where we may find loyalists willing to join us. I don’t expect the secret entrance to be a surprise to our enemy, they likely know of it, and that’s why I want you to go with my soldiers in there, Lemi.”

“I am not a soldier, my lady. I’m not sure what I could do” the mage replied.

“If there are imperials present, I expect there will be battle mages around. If I were them, I would put at least one guarding the passage, a well aimed spell at the right moment can collapse it and kill everyone inside. I need you to protect my men.” She looked at Thalia “Meanwhile, me and you will march straight for the entrance. We will pretend we are here precisely for what they invited us to do. Hopefully, seeing you, they will deploy most of their men against us and leave the rest of the castle relatively undefended. I don’t think they have many more men than us, the garrison was already low on numbers before, even with imperial reinforcements, they likely don’t have much. With a bit of luck, they will surrender when they notice we control the inner walls, and see Thalia playing mean in front of them. We may take the fortress without bloodshed.”

“I like to think of myself as a good mage, princess, but I don’t know if I can win against an imperial battle mage.”

“You don’t need to, you just need to keep our soldiers alive. You will have many veterans with you, with plenty of experience in dealing with imperial wizards, you can leave the fighting to them.”

Lemi nodded, then bowed.

The princess then looked at her. “So, big girl, think you can act tough for me?”

Thalia giggled. “I can try, mistress.”

“All right, we’ve waited enough. It’s time to go” the princess said, standing up.

Thalia yawned and stood up as well, then picked up her princess.

They moved towards the castle, in silence.

Finally the arrived. As soon as they emerged from the forest, the walls filled with shouts and frantic movement.

At about 500 ft from the walls, Eliza commanded her to stop. The mighty walls of the fortress barely reached halfway up her thighs. Soon enough, the door opened and a lone rider came out. Thalia put the princess on the ground, while the horse came closer and closer. The rider was completely hidden under a black cape, and seemed completely passive. Thalia squatted down, curious to see who it was.

Finally, he reached them, then they finally spotted the truth: The rider was bound by thick ropes, he was not in control of his horse. Her mistress got closer, and lowered his hood: it was the magister, beaten and bloodied. “They know” was all he managed to say before collapsing unconscious.

Immediately, they could hear the noise of heavy machinery from the castle. At least a dozen enormous ballistae appeared on the top of the walls. “Oh no.” Thalia grabbed the princess and closed her hands around her, as shield, then turned around, showing her back to the castle.

Then the bombardment started. The thick bolts, five or six inches long to her, impacted her skin with enough strength to lodge themselves in, cutting her flesh and drawing blood. The wounds were not deep, but with each new bolt, a new jolt of pain shook her.

“Princess! What do I...” Thalia tried to say, when she was interrupted by a loud sound coming from behind her. She turned around to see a squad of six mages casting a spell on the walls. A crackling sound overpowered the noise of the ballistae, then a blinding light flooded the field. Pure lightning rushed against her.

The hit came. The ground came towards her. Then blackness.

“Come back here, you little thief!”

Thalia ran as fast as she could, the heavy bag in her hands. The merchant right behind her, with a knife the size of her head in hand. His anger perfectly visible even in the shadows of the evening.

She went into a side alley, threw the bag on her shoulders and started climbing the wall. The merchant soon reached her, but she was already too high up. His angry shouts accompanied her the rest of the way to the roof, hammering her ears with insult after insult.

She looked around, then spotted a way down to the road nearby. She came closer to the edge, when the tiles gave in under her weight, causing her to fall down.

Fortunately, she landed on a soft surface. She sighed in relief, only to scream in horror as she realized she landed on a person. A large man, that quickly shoved her off himself.

“What in the hells is your problem, elf?” said, while she held her by her shoulders.

“Calm down, Eric. You’re scaring her to death” a feminine voice said. A familiar voice. “Wait, I remember you” added.

Thalia turned around, and there she stood: Her savior.

“I’m sorry, princess. But this little thing came out of nowhere” the man answered back.

“You!” a shout reached them. The merchant was back. “You little thieving cunt!”

“And you are?” the woman asked, putting herself between her and the merchant.

“I am the owner of what that knife-ears is carrying! Now who are….” he suddenly realized who he was shouting to. He froze.

“I am sure this is all a misunderstanding. You see, she is” she looked at Thalia “my maid and I asked her to buy something for herself. But she is a really shy girl, she might got a bit scared. I will pay for anything she took, of course.”

“I-Of course, my lady.” He clearly did not believe a word, but he knew better than to contradict royalty. He took his money and left with a bow.

She turned around to face the elf, still in the hands of the guard. “We must stop meeting like this, little elf” she said, then ordered to let her go. Thalia, too terrified to move, remained still.

After a few seconds, the princess spoke again: “You know, I do happen to be looking for a maid. Would you by any chance be interested?”

Her jaw dropped. She could not say a word.

“I’ll take it as a yes. Now let me see what I just paid for” said, as she opened her bag, revealing a crudely crafted pair of leather shoes.

Light came back once again. At first she could not distinguish anything, then she started recognizing some shapes and colors. The cold ground against her cheek reminded her she was laying down, but why? She tried to stand up, yet her body did not move.

A figure not too far from her attracted her attention, it was taller than those standing around her. It was shouting? She could not hear anything, but its mouth was wide open. it was being carried away, she wondered why.

“Thalia!” her shouts suddenly reached her ears.

Thalia. It was her name?

She finally recalled. Her princess. They were taking her princess.

She tried to move once again, with all her strength, but not one of her limbs obeyed. She could feel tears on her cheeks.

Then pressure. Against her skin. A familiar pressure. Powerful, overwhelming.

Then pain. And Pleasure. Like waves crashing into her body. The bolts lodged into her skin were pushed out, the wounds sealing behind them. Her back, scorched black by the lightning strike, burned intensely, yet she could feel the injury retreating, step by step.

The process went on for what felt like hours. Her audience petrified. Not a sound could be heard outside of Thalia’s screams of pain mixed with pleasure. Her body expanded, taking more and more space.

Finally, it was all over.

She stood.

The movement of her colossal body shook everyone out of their trance. The ballistae soon started firing again, but now the three inches long bolts bounced off her skin harmlessly.

She carefully looked around, trying to find her mistress. Finally she spotted her, being dragged towards the castle by two men.

Fear filled her mind, then that fear became anger. She took a step forward, then another, then another one, the walls in front of her now not even reaching halfway past her knees. Her princess stood inches from her feet. She lifted her right foot, brought it over the walls, and stomped with all her strength.

The walls crumbled like paper under her immense weight, the proud rock reduced to dust, while the soldiers over it were simply erased from existence, minuscule red spots under the elf’s sole. All was left of an entire section of the walls was the crater left by her foot.

The dust slowly settled. Debris still falling down around the impact.

Then the bastion cracked, and collapsed, destroying everything standing in the inner walls.

The thunderous collapse freed Thalia of the anger-induced trance. She gasped, horrified by her actions.

She looked down by her left foot. Her princess stood there. Still. On the ground. Blood on her face.

Her heart stopped. She took a step back, then fled.