The Princess Who Went to War

Chapter 25 - Scoping

[Calysta]

It is the next morning, and I get up earlier than usual, feeling a tad bit anxious about our mission. I sit up from my bed, to see Gwen already awake as well. 

To be fair, she does usually wake up earlier than I do in the morning. But this time is too early for the both of us to already be up. 

"Feeling anxious?" I ask her.

She nods, "I can't even process the fact that a wizard has somehow survived the War over a hundred of years ago." She replies, looking serious. 

"It's hard to imagine." I admit. But, this is what we're here for. To confirm and to find out how everything unfolded, and how someone like Eldrich Abdon has come to power over the monsters. 

"We should get ready." I tell her as I finally stand from my bed and head to get changed. 

As per usual, we head to the training grounds. There, we find Gabriel, Randall and Ulysses, also up earlier than usual. With them are Ser Rem and two of his trusted men, as well as Ser Rem's tracker. 

It has been decided that Ser Rem's tracker should guide us, given that he has much more experience than Ulwid in this area. 

Kalah arrives only a few minutes after we do, and we spar together, warming up and training our magic. Kalah has been my favorite sparring partner thus far, as I do not need to hold back with her. Like me, she has her magic to protect her. 

Once the breakfast bell rings, we immediately head to the dining halls to get our much needed fill. In the breakfast halls, we get to dine with the rest of Gabriel's team. 

Today, everyone in the dining halls are much quiet than usual, having heard of the mission we will be undertaking. 

I guess, the reality has not really sunk in with everyone, and the danger is becoming much more apparent as time passes by. 

A living Sorcerer has been unheard of for a hundred years, and now one is terrorizing our Kingdom. 

After breakfast, we all head to the Command Room to finally meet with Ser Remnand before we head out. 

Inside, we find Ser Remnand, arms across his chest as he looked over the map, as if thinking of something — perhaps strategizing. 

"Ah, you've arrived." He says as we enter. He takes a moment, as he always does, to acknowledge my presence and briefly bow his head, before going back to looking at the map. 

"Ser Rem's tracker will be leading you towards the cliffs, going through the most quiet paths. We are expecting much monster activity in the area." Ser Remnand starts off. 

Ser Rem's tracker, who I've come to know as Ezakar, nods at this.

"There is, of course, the question of whether this could be a trap to ambush us." Ser Rem starts. 

"It could, " Gabriel answers, making everyone turn to him as he speaks, "But I don't think we can just sit around in fear when we know what we're potentially up against." He adds. 

Ser Rem stands upright from leaning on the table at this, offended. Perhaps at the obvious insinuation that he is afraid. 

"What Ser Rem may be talking about, is we have to ensure the safety of the Princess...," Ser Remnand starts.

"I think I've displayed a number of times before how I can take very good care of my own safety." I cut him off as I talk. 

"..., and the safety of everyone." He finishes off. I roll my eyes at this. We look towards Kalah's direction as we hear her laugh. 

"You're actually fearing for Calysta's safety? If anything, you should be worrying about yourselves." She says. 

"Kalah and I will be there, and we'll only be scoping out the territory. We shouldn't be getting into too much trouble." I add. 

Ser Remnand looks at me, and then Kalah, and sighs. 

"We'll only be scoping. At the slightest hint of trouble, we'll be out. The goal for now is to know as much as we can about this Abdon guy and his territory." Gabriel says, somehow assuring Ser Remnand.  

"Alright," Ser Remnand says, clasping his hands together, "Get ready to leave. Should you need anything else, all our resources are at your disposal." He says as he finally dismisses us. 

"I don't get why he runs the place." Kalah says as we exit. 

"Ser Remnand?" I ask, not sure if he's what she's talking about. 

"He likes to hide behind his soldiers and gives instructions we already know. A complete waste of space." She comments. Gwen laughs at this, as she heard our conversation. 

"I'm not one to usually question my Commanders, I have an overbearing one at the Palace, but I do agree with you on that." Gwen comments, making Kalah laugh as well. 

"If you ask me, the King ought to send someone new." Kalah comments as she laughs. Gwen and I chuckle with her. 

"My men are to get new armors. They'll be ready in fifteen minutes." Ser Rem tells me, grabbing our attention.

"We'll be waiting here." I reply as I nod. 

He bows, before he leaves, presumably to get ready as well. We watch as he and his men turn and walk away from us. 

"You'd think a man like him would always be ready." Gwen comments. I nod, agreeing. It is custom for soldiers and knights to always be ready for anything, so much so that they can leave at any given time. 

This is why Gwen gets ready for anything and everything as soon as she wakes up in the morning. Even Kalah, who was not trained as a soldier, is ready to go now. Ser Rem and his team somehow always need time. 

"Caly." Kalah grabs my attention as we walks towards me, looking like she has something important and urgent to say. 

I walk a little further away from the group with her and we stopped right at the corner of the Command Room as she speaks. 

"I might be able to confirm my suspicions on Abdon's magic today. You have to be careful." She tells me. I furrow my eyebrows at this. 

"You just said there's no need to fear for my safety?" I said, keeping in mind how she had defended me in front of everyone earlier. 

"There's no doubt that you're a powerful Sorceress, even with the little to no formal training you've had. But this Abdon bastard has it out for you. It's almost like he can smell you or something." She tells me. I furrow my eyebrows even more, confused. 

"I've heard how the monsters somehow always make their way to you. How even Giorems somehow always know where you are." She starts, looking at me straight in my eyes, looking worried. 

"And with the giant, during the interrogation. We both know that wasn't the giant. Not the one we caught. When you went near, the giant somehow changed into someone completely different." She tells me. 

I immediately realize what she means. This is also what Ayu said, about the monsters somehow finding their way to me. And this is the familiarity I felt when the giant started talking to me. 

"I can take care of myself. If worse comes to worse, make sure everyone else gets back safe." I tell her, determined to stay tough. She scoffs. 

"You know that's not possible. Gwendolyn and Gabriel would eat my flames if that meant keeping you safe and coming with you." She says, motioning towards the others'. 

"I'll knock them out if I have to. Just drag them back." I reply, looking at Gwen and Gabriel, chatting with Randall and Ulysses.

I am sure I can take care of myself. What can make it hard would be protecting them as well. 

We continue to wait for a few more minutes, until Ser Rem and his men finally arrive, all ready. The squires has also brought our horses as the cliffs are a tad bit too far. 

As per usual, Ser Remnand sees us off. We travel a few hours out, and just as we did before, we leave our horses with two squires that had come with us before trekking the rest of the way to attract less attention. 

We all follow Ezakar through the dense forest I've never been through before as he navigates around monster camps, taking note of disturbances in the surroundings, foot prints and a number of other things that are tell-tales that a monster camp must be nearby. 

Even when we see sign of just a small group, we steer clear, as Kalah suggested that the monsters are somehow connected to Abdon through magic. We are as careful as we can be, especially now that we are still unsure of the magic Eldrich Abdon possess. 

It is not too long before we arrive at the edge of the forest and find a huge clearing leading to cliffs that overlook the ocean. 

"I've never seen this before." Ezakar, Ser Rem's experienced tracker says, as if in awe, as we all look up at the same thing. 

There is a literal castle on the cliffs. We stay by the bushes and do not step out into the clearing to avoid being spotted by the monsters that surround the castle. 

We can't believe our eyes as we watch goblins and giants work together in building other parts of the castle that is yet to be completed. 

"How could we have not noticed?" Ser Rem asks. 

"We patrol this area every three months." Gabriel tells us. 

"They built that in less than three months?" Kalah asks, pure shock in face. 

It does seem impossible. The castle is large enough for a big Duchy.

"No. They could have been building for six months." Randall suddenly speaks, and we immediately turn to him, not sure as to what he means. 

"Ah, yes. That one!" Ezakar says, snapping his fingers as he realized something.

"What?" I ask, frustrated that I have no clue as to what they're talking about. 

"Two trackers meant to canvas the area for monster activity went missing on their mission here. It was never followed up as it was also the same time the border became much busier." Ezakar tells us. 

"Still, six months to make all of this is too little. If Eldirch Abdon has been around for the last 100 years, where was he hiding this whole time and why did he decide to start residing here in the last six months?" Gabriel asks. 

"Obviously questions we have no answers to." Kalah answers, quite sarcastically. 

"We have to somehow get inside. Or at least just get closer." I tell them. 

"We can't right now. We have no idea what lies beyond those walls." Ser Rem replies. 

I bite my lower lip in frustration. A huge castle that's been built by monsters in less than six months is standing right in front of us, and we can't even approach it. 

"We should head back and consult with Ser Remnand and plan this through." Ser Rem tells us. We get ready to fall back and return to the gates. We each slowly stand and start walking back the way we came when we are ambushed by a group of goblins dropping down from the trees right above us. 

The first goblin to reach the ground faces us as we stared back at the creature, watching the others fall down as well. The goblin shrieks loudly and when we turn back, the monsters guarding the castle is now staring right at us as well. 

We all look at each other, aware of the grave danger that we are all in. 

"Just as we had discussed! Immediately back to the gates!" Ser Rem shouts as he unsheathes his sword, and so do the rest of the team. 

We all assume the defense as we watch the goblins running towards us from in front of us and goblins and giants running towards us from behind. 

"Kill your way out!" Gabriel yells as he cuts the goblin in front of him in half and move forward. 

This one's going to be a difficult one for sure.