29

"So, what do we do now?" Mr. Whittens said seconds after the Conlins vanished. His clenched jaw and furrowed brow made him look several years older.

"About what exactly?" I asked, I knew it was something serious to shake him so badly.

"Well, the village is in a state of ruin, we need an entirely new foundation," Mr. Whittens said with urgency in his tone.

It hadn't occurred to me until that moment that Conlin jr was the leader of this village, removing him was bound to cause problems.

"I guess that is something we will have to deal with?" I said while scratching my forehead.

"That can wait, the most important thing now is to get everyone healthy again. It won't matter what issues this place has if everyone here is dead," Bella said and walked away from us.

Over the next few weeks, we all became focused on making sure no one else died from the newly named Conlin plague. Bella worked hand in hand with my parents to heal people while Teresa, Mila and me all just ran whatever errand they needed us to. It was amazing seeing the place slowly come back to life. While this was happening, Mr. Whittens did everything he could to keep the village running. He made it a point to come to my parents' house every night before he went home for the night and told the rest of us what had taken place that day. It was nice to be kept up to date with the inner workings of the village politics, but I felt like it was above my paygrade at the same time.

The night Bella gave the last person their final dose of healing potion we decided to celebrate. We were all tired from either caring for others or running errands, but we decided a party was needed to mark the end of the Conlin plague. Bella and Mila were preparing Elren's Rest to gather some food and drinks while my father tuned his lute. It looked like a night of fun and laughs was on the horizon until Mr.Whittens showed up.

"We have a serious problem!" He said and shoved a rolled-up piece of paper at me. Teresa snatched it and read it before I could.

"Where the hell is Dagger's End?" Teresa said and handed me the letter.

I read the letter. Claudia, the governor of Dagger's End was demanding the safe return of her brother, or she was declaring war on Lilyfield. I had grown up hearing stories about the scrimmages between Lilyfield and Dagger's End. There had always been tension between the two villages but never a full-blown war. That wasn't about to change if I could help it.

"Why does she think we have her brother?" I asked with a horrible feeling in my gut.

"We did have a sit down with him and a few of his soldiers a few weeks ago about the most recent border clash, but that actually went well," Mr. Whittens said.

"How well?" Teresa asked with skepticism in her voice.

"It was the most laid back, casual meeting I've ever been a part of. Both sides agreed that it was just a misunderstanding and then we had drinks and afterward Conlin Jr even gave them a tour of the village," he said confidently.

The moment I heard Conlin Jr's name I knew we were in trouble. I glanced over at Teresa and the irritated look on her face told me that she felt the same way I did.

"They're totally dead, aren't they?" she asked me while nodding her head.

"Yeah, I bet that was their armor and equipment in the cave," I said and shook my head.

"No, that doesn't make any sense. Why would Conlin have them killed? The meeting went exceptionally well," Mr. Whittens said. I could see him struggling to make sense of it.

"Well, for his actions to make any sense you have to remember that Conlin Jr was nuttier than squirrel shit. Once you accept that, you'll realize that it doesn't have to make sense, crazy people don't listen to logic," Teresa said like she was a professor giving a lecture.

"So, what do we do now, even at full strength our village can't defeat Dagger's End in a war?" I thought aloud.

"I guess our only chance is to try and reason with her. That's the only shot we have, otherwise they will wipe us out," Mr. Whitten said matter of factly.

"Or we could strike first, I can rain some fire down on them and as they flee you guys can take them out," Bella said as she walked over to us.

"That is by far the best thing you have ever said," Teresa said and high-fived Bella.

"No, we're not cold-blooded killers, we will try and talk first," I said assertively.

"Okay, but if it doesn't work, we slay our way out," Bella said as Teresa nodded approvingly.

We spent a few hours devising a plan to get into Dagger's End. My plan was to just walk in and request a sit down with Claudia. Bella reasoned that that was a bad plan since it would alert them of our presence and ruin any chance we had of ambushing them. While I wasn't on board with the eradication plan, I did like having a strategy to fall back on if this whole thing went sideways. We decided at that point that it would be smarter to sneak into the village.

"Wait, if we're sneaking in anyway, why not sneak in, kill Claudia, and sneak back out. That would solve the problem, wouldn't it?" Teresa said as if it was a brilliant epiphany.

"What were you asleep when I said we're not cold-blooded murderers? We don't just kill people," I said a little too loudly.

"That's a lie, you killed 2 people today, and Teresa's killed so many people there's a section of the underworld reserved just for her victims," Bella said.

"I meant we don't kill good people," I said, getting flustered.

"Aren't good and bad subjective terms though? I mean, if a man steals to feed his starving family does that make him a bad person?" Mr. Whittens asked with his head slightly tilted.

"No, not you too Mr. Whittens," I said desperately.

"Sorry, I'm a sucker for a good moral dilemma," he said with his fists raised.

After finally getting back on track we came up with a plan I was confident in. Bella would cast an invisibility spell and a light foot spell on the three of us so no one could hear our footsteps. Then we would sneak into Dagger's End and have a private chat with Claudia. I was forced to accept the term that if the talks failed, we were going to kill Claudia and then burn the rest of the village to the ground. I fought it bitterly, but the fact was we couldn't afford a war and when forced to choose between their village or mine I chose mine. After we finalized the plans, we prepared to leave.

"Hey, can I come with you?" Mila asked Bella.

"Not this time, but I promise you can come on the next one no matter what it is," Bella said and stroked Mila's long pink hair.

We walked out of the village towards Dagger's End and the only thought in my head was please don't let this end in a slaughter.