35 This is just the beginning

Cenred bowed down in reverence to Louisa and said "My lady, I am yours to command" Louisa smiled in satisfaction. Cenred was dressed in a black knight outfit and had a hood over his head while his face was covered with a black cloak in a way that only his eyeballs were seen.

Louisa led Cenred out of the vault and to the city. "Stop them" she said point towards the dragons that were setting the entire kingdom ablaze. Cenred quickly got to his knees, drew something on the ground and pulled out a small stone from his hood and placed it between his palms as he put his hands together looking at the floor and started some spell "O dracones tenebris magicae præcipio tibi procurator impetum Darca subducere. Et non est amplius evanescunt" as he cast this spell, the dragons quickly stopped spitting fire and started to move in circular motion, and one after the other they all vanished. Cenred rose to his feet "it is done my lady" he said to Louisa. Louisa nodded then responded "I won't put you back in the tomb. Let this be your reward for a job well done. deus autem malum, Tu emotae. Go and never return to Darca". "Yes my lady" he replied and dispeared.

Liah was still scrying through her crystal and when she saw Cenred get rid of the dragons she grunted in frustration. "Qarinah, your daughter has dared me this time and she will regret it".

"Louisa is just a child, please leave her out of this, I beg you, please" Qarinah pleaded. She hadn't even looked into the scrying crystal.

"A child you say?, look here" she pointed at the crystal.

"Impossible! How did she...."

"Luther. Luther will burn for this. He has suddenly turned a thorn in my flesh but I shall deal with him in due time. For now, we'll head to Darca. I'm conquering Darca myself. Guards!" As she called out two guards whose faces were covered came in and knelt before her "get the knights ready. Send these words to Stephan, his soldiers ride to Darca at dawn tomorrow, at my command". The soldiers bowed and left. "This is just the beginning"

We sat in the castle still relieved over our victory for the past few weeks now. "I must say, I have a strong ally and they are willing to do anything just to keep this kingdom safe. I really appreciate you all" I said and raised my glass to make a toast "to togetherness" and they made a toast imitating my gesture.

"I have to tell you this Aurora though I really don't want to, you are quite resourceful. Thank you" Kahlan said smiling at Aurora.

"I have always known you appreciate me. It's nice to hear you say it out loud".

"Have you been reading my thoughts?"

"I can't even if I wanted to. I don't have such gift" Aurora and Kahlan seemed to be getting along finally. We were still drinking when a night gestured to sir Magnus and he followed him outside. In some hours sir Magnus returned. By then the feast had ended. He met me sitting at the table with Kahlan, Aurora and Louisa.

"My lady we have a situation coming at us. There are soldiers heading towards Darca. They are more than any soldier that has ever attacked us" sir Magnus reported.

"How many men are they?, on estimate"

"Over 15,000 men my lady, we are outnumbered 10 to 1"

I got cold within. What is going on. I thought for a while "How long before they get to us?"

"36 hours, 48 at most"

"How many men do we have left?"

"Less than 2,000 my lady"

"Fine. Prepare the city for a siege, this includes people in the outskirts"

"Okay my lady"

"We need more men. We can't handle it alone. Get all the men in Darca, from the age if 14"

"What about women and children?"

"It is our duty to protect them and that we shall do, we will teach these men to defend their lives and family. We don't have much time, now go and do as I've asked".

"Of course my lady" sir Magnus bowed and left.

"Torren made a right choice of woman" Aurora commented. I ignored her and left.

The entire day was spent taking the people under siege and preparing for the worst while we hoped for the best. I sat on my bed thinking about everything as I signed and put my back against my bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

"We can do this Diana. You are strong and courageous and I believe there is nothing you cannot do" Kahlan said as she walked into my room. I smiled and sat up "Kahlan. I understand that you're trying to encourage me and give me hope but then, we must face reality. We may lose this fight. Liah is too powerful on her own, now think of what will happen now she's united with Qarinah" tears welled up in my eyes "And then they have Freya. I don't know how Freya managed to get so dedicated to working for evil. Honestly Kahlan, I don't think I can do this. I need Torren" I said and finally burst out crying while Kahlan sat next to me and put her arms around me. "You've come this far. Don't you worry, we will win. Liah is never taking Darca" She consoled me.

Later at dusk, I sat in a round table meeting with my counsel. "When do you think they'll get here?" I asked.

"By dawn they should be right at us" sir Magnus responded.

"Have the city gates locked. We'll fight them before they can take over"

"And the lower town?"

"They can have it for now, as long as the people who live their have their lives". No I stood up "I want you all to know that I believe in you just like your master did, and we'll fight to the end even if it's the last thing we do. We must protect our people with our lives. To Darca!!!". "To Darca".

It was midnight when we started to hear noises outside the city gate. King Stephan's men were right at us. They were really a lot. They started to throw fire into the city and started firing missile at us. King Luther's men were also there to fight on our side. There were so many warriors at us but looking at them gave me strength. I suddenly wanted to take them down by all means. I was filled with courage. The knights of Darca and Draven set out to fight. I wanted to join the fight but I was stopped by Aurora "you can't go out there Diana"

"Why? And who are you to give me orders"

"Why, because you'll be needed in here more than out there, there's going to be a lot of casualties and Kahlan and I will need extra hands here. Who are my? I'm someone you must listen to".

"But this is my kingdom Aurora"

"Then believe in your knights. Think of how Torren will feel if any harm comes to you. You think he'll be happy?" Aurora looked right into my eyes in anger, for a moment I thought if how Torren would react seeing me out there but then again, Torren put me to a battle once so he wouldn't mind seeing me fight. Hold on, Aurora said they will need an extra hand in here right?, is she not really going to fight?. "You won't fight?" I asked her aloud.

"No. Since your palace has no physician, I'm sure Kahlan won't be able to handle the casualties on her own. And besides that, I trust my army. I believe they can handle Stephan's army" she replied.

I felt bad for not believing in my army "fine. We'll handle...." Before I could finish, some men who were already wounded were brought in for treatment. Another older lady who treated people in the lower town helped alongside her son. There were really a lot of casualties like Aurora said. Aurora used magic to heal the ones she could. She couldn't heal every wound as it wasn't really one of her skills. Louisa too helped out. As for king Luther, he was scrying in his kingdom. He gave our knights strength and set some of king Stephan's army ablaze. He was quite helpful. He was also trying to strip off queen Qarinah's immortality power and he succeeded. Queen Qarinah didn't quite realize her power had been stripped off. Though her immortality was stripped off, she still had the ability to drain a person's life force with just a touch.

"We need water and more towels my lady" the old woman said to me. "Okay I'll get it" I left and hurried to get them. I didn't really know where to find towels but I knew I had three extra towels in my room so I went there to get them. I entered my room and went through my wardrobe to find it. I was still searching in my wardrobe when my door banged shut. I turned around to see queen Qarinah.