Homecoming
Three days prior, Princess Cristabel had ridden out with a party of knights to answer a call for help from a village in the north-east beset by a raiding party of winged beasts. Prince Xavier had joined his betrothed’s expedition, bolstering the force of her party with his own soldiers.
The battle had been fierce and brutal, diminishing the numbers on both sides. While the combined Trasimenean and Ossaian forces were prevailing by the use of unpredictable feint and attack stratagems under Princess Cristabel’s command, the princess and Prince Xavier were lured away from the main battle to pursue the fleeing leader of the raiding party.
The troops found Prince Xavier cradling Princess Cristabel’s body beside a brook.
Nobody could be certain what had happened. Princess Cristabe
