Chapter 6 - part 1: "War talk"

Summer had come to Atenarte, with its bright and warm sun, although unfortunately I could not have felt its rays on my skin. My journey had forced me to reach a territory characterized by a desolate and cold nature, the steppe of the northern kingdoms. Some northern kingdoms had tried to oppose and damage Atenarte, allying with countries at the far end of the big continent, so I had to leave as soon as possible, leading my army towards conflict with our enemies.

It had not been easy for me to leave the palace and even if I didn't want to admit it, what I felt was partly due to Alex: I didn't want to leave her both for fear that something would happen during my absence, and because I wanted to rebuild our relationship. Despite this, I should only have thought about returning as soon as possible and protecting my people; I was confident in the skills of my generals and the discipline of my soldiers, and I was pleasantly surprised by Keira Mellarc, who had proved to be an excellent strategist, and Tynov who had greatly improved in the art of the sword, causing rumors to spread about his skill even outside the territory of the Empire.

I wasn't afraid of losing, especially since I knew our war force, but if I had learned anything in battles, it was to be ready for anything, always.

Victories and the conquest of effective positions to hit enemy weak points were not enough: it was necessary to keep in mind that in enemy territory, there was never a certainty of dominance, since we did not know the war area, and this disadvantage could be used against us.

I sighed, stroking my horse's neck, and bringing my eyes to the vivid white of the snow above us, covering the land where I was with my army. The only reassurance was having Alex at the palace, who could keep things under control for me: I had delegated some of my powers to her, asking her to protect the territory in my absence and to take care of the duties I couldn't take care of at the moment. The witch had agreed without complaining and she had even promised me that for my return, I would find everything intact, stable, as much as possible.

She had become really important to me, I was sure by now, even if I didn't fully understand why. Perhaps my apprehension for her was due to her indecipherable behavior of her, and the fact that she had become unfriendly, so suddenly.

I couldn't stand the idea of ​​her getting hurt and the day she came back to me injured from a "failed experiment", I went almost crazy.

It was April, Alex was working on her research and I didn't know where; she kept talking about rituals and sacrifices of some kind, but something had gone wrong.

She had returned to the palace covered in dust and blood: I had found her in the royal garden, lying among the white flowers, stained with her blood, and I had immediately called the most competent doctors to take care of her. I had stayed by her side all night, cursing anyone who allowed themselves to imply that I had more important tasks to do. She was my priority, without doubt.

When she had recovered, I had noticed detachment, almost as if she still wanted to avoid me. I couldn't hold back my desire to understand more deeply what she was doing, especially to know if I had done something wrong. She was so cold towards me, a greater coldness than I was feeling in the North of the continent.

I didn't know when everything went wrong.

I thought for a long time about what awaited me in Riviera when I returned; during the march it was inevitable to go back to what worried me most: I had done my research, also asking Malik to find books that were not present in the libraries of the imperial palace, with the hope of discovering something more, about those rituals and spells that Alex was experiencing. I was one step behind her: it hadn't happened for years that I felt so helpless in a situation that I didn't fully understand.

Ignorance killed and would hurt me most of all, precisely because I found myself in a position of vulnerability.

Fortunately speaking with my father, I had learned more information: there was an ancient artifact that the royal family had protected for centuries, but over the generations, the knowledge of the precise location of the sacred object had been lost and many rulers had preferred to remain silent. and take the details about the relic to their tomb.

One thing was certain: Alex had stolen something from the imperial palace, something really powerful. I could only deduce that the Eye (I learned it from her conversation with Fiamma) was the same relic that the royal family kept in the basement of the palace.

How did she find it? Only my father and I knew of its existence. Tiberius had begun to look for it only after my grandfather, had informed him shortly before his death.

That said, the old emperor had asked me to continue the search for him and of course I would have pretended to do so to protect Alex and my position. I would have solved the problem sooner or later, particularly relying on the people I had tasked to search for the relic. They were two men and a woman I trusted, Thomas the advisor, Malik and Keira Mellarc, who I had kept close to me after recognizing her great abilities and potential.

There were no news on the relic's whereabouts but the group was sure that the artifact was not in the basement of the palace or in the palace itself.

I had to accept it was very likely that Alex had already taken it and hid it somewhere else.

"Her Majesty, news has come right now that Portland has been conquered."

One of my generals joined me and I immediately took my place at the table that held the large map of the continent. After marching for hours, we had set up a temporary camp, then at dawn the next day, we would continue the journey to the next stop and in the meantime I would discuss the war strategy again to make sure everything was in place.

I added a new piece on the map, near Portland, noting that it was close to the end of the war, especially thanks to the first battle that had allowed the enemy front to be immediately broken. Keira Mellarc joined me at the table and we discussed the last few moves before closing the conflict within two weeks. Mellarc had several times helped to find better solutions, allowing them to acquire more effective positions than others.

"Some rulers have already surrendered. Apparently their alliance was not as strong as they wanted to make it seem" Keira commented taking a piece of the board and moving it to the correct position.

"It's been two months already. We're taking longer than we should ..." I spoke aloud, but it was more a thought that I said to myself. The distance from Atenarte immediately had negative effects on me: I was agitated at the idea of ​​not knowing how Alex was or what she was doing. I hadn't even met the famous Flame, who had surprised her so much, but as soon as I was back in Atenarte, I wouldn't waste time; I would have looked for it myself if I had to.

Alex hadonly compliments for her, I saw that she also behaved in a different way than she did with me. She was more sincere. Unfortunately I had to admit that the real Alex was the young woman who smiled talking about how spectacular and similar Fiamma was to her. Her eyes were completely different when they landed on me.

I hated the sensation they triggered and the heartburn I felt every time she mentioned this Flame.

What was so special about her? She was shady, a person like her with a dusty and unknown tavern, she couldn't be real; but then what was happening to Alex? I had no reason to believe she was lying.