I remember waking up late on our fourth night of travel to the sounds of screams. The area we chose was close to the trail for carriages, and even though it wasn't the safest option, we figured we would be safe since we were far enough away. Before everyone went to bed, we checked our surroundings and during the entire time we had set up camp there, not one person passed by us.

So, everyone went to bed with a sound mind. We had ten soldiers on guard, and they were well trained. If we had rode towards the woods and set up camp there, we would have been fine.

The rain was probably the worst factor. The mud, thunder and hail sealed our fates.

                                   .        .      .

It was so loud. Why was everyone so loud?

"Princess Opal! You have to wake up!" Someone screamed next to me.

I jerked awake to Jo grabbing a kitchen knife and a sword, with tears streaming down her face.

"What's going on?!" My eyes rushed around the tent before I hopped out of bed and put my boots and cloak on, grabbing the sword Jo handed to me.

"Raiders. Foreign raiders. They don't recognize our flag. They seem to be part of the rebel movement in Niksm, maybe scouts from Minsk." Jo shuddered.

In the west, there were two twin countries, Minsk and Niksm. Minsk's royalty had been overthrown by the rebels ten or so years ago and currently was being governed by various politicians.

Niksm on the other hand, their problems were more current. Internal conflict in the country was ruining them. Minsk's rebel-government was sending reinforcements to the overthrowers, while their rulers frantically scrambled for plans.

The rebels were dangerous. Very dangerous.

Scowling, I tied my hair up and made my way outside the tent.

A battlefield. That is what our camp looked like. Mud and blood covered the once green grass. The odds were not in our favor. Injured bodies littered the area around the fire, and most wore Altacia's colors. A flurry of movement in the left corner of my eye told me where the main battle was going on.

And it was right in front of my sister's tent.

Valencia would not be woken unless the world was ending and half of it had already exploded. So, that was a bit of a problem.

Rushing over, two men came in my path. Thanks to the deities powers, I quickly cut them down and entered the fray.

Man after man ran towards me, and I fought them with ease, even in the rain. When I had cleared a path to my sister's tent opening, someone stopped me.

I brought my sword up with inhuman speed and expected them to fall.

But they didn't.

Though they were surprised at the force of my first swing, they fought off my attack with equal strength.

How is this possible? I thought. No one had ever countered my attack besides my mother and...

Another Deities Child.

Whoever this person was, they had caught me off-guard. With a long, billowing cape and a dark mask covering their nose and mouth, I only saw their gray eyes. Eyes from Ustrah.

Eyes that pure gray only came from a pure Ustrian family.

So this mysterious fighter was from Ustrah. In other words, this person who I was currently fighting in order to save my sister was also born in the country I was traveling to to make serious decisions regarding the fate of my country.

Not a good look for them, I must say.

But, I wondered, why had I never heard of another Deities Child born in Ustrah?

People who are gifted the powers of gods are famous throughout the whole land. Their families are often rich and powerful, so they use their children to brag their superiority.

But, no known child had been born with a god's powers in Ustrah. So, who was this person?!

Whoever this was had kept a serious secret from the rest of the world. They fought with ease and had a style that was unique. I had never seen someone fight like this.

When swinging their sword, they alternated between fast and big swings with a lot of power, and slower, smaller swings that threw me off guard.

I knew that they were trying to wear me down. But when it came to fighting, I always had an unlimited amount of stamina, even in the toughest fights.

My sword swing started gaining more force, until it was obvious my opponent was straining to stay balanced. I pushed them backwards and with each step they took, I swung harder and jabbed faster, until they missed a parry.

I was surprised, I hadn't expected them to not return a swing. I barely scraped them, their trousers sliced at the high waistline, and I saw the area of skin between the hip bone and stomach.

It didn't give me any clue towards their gender, or identity, but they had a swirling tattoo that almost looked like a-

The moment they realized where I was staring, they sprinted off. I had no idea who this person was, and yet, they reacted as though that little bit of ink that I saw would give away their identity.

So, a nobles child most likely. And yet I couldn't shake the feeling that I should know who they were...

I wanted to know this person, whoever they were they could be an ally, and would be extremely dangerous if any other country got their hands on them. I didn't care who they were. I wanted them for Altacia and I would demand them in the agreement we would set with Ustrah.

Remembering my task, I entered the tent quickly only to have a small dagger at my throat. I waited a few seconds for Ainsley to realize who she was threatening.

When she put down the dagger I chuckled.

"Thank you for looking after my sister." I said.

She blushed and mumbled an apology.

There was one way to wake up my sister. Once Valencia settled down for the night, she didn't wake up until morning. So, I took a candle and stuck it in her face.

She jerked awake.

It always made me laugh how stupid the answer to this problem was. Ainsley went over to Valencia and explained what was going on.

Suddenly, I heard the tent opening flapping. I turned around quickly and Ainsley already had a knife to their throat. When she saw who it was, she put her knife down, and he bowed.

"Ah, Sir Axel." He was holding onto a raider collar, like a mother wolf would hold onto a pup. "What brings you here."

He looked from the raider to me, and back to the raider. "I figured that we could take him and question him."

Valencia spoke up at this moment. "Is he conscious?" She gestured towards the man.

"Kinda... Not really." Sir Axel shook the man ever so slightly.

"How is the fight outside, Sir Axel?" Valencia stood up.

"Almost all of the raiders are either injured or have run away. Those who are injured are currently in the custody of other soldiers." He replied.

"How injured are our men?" I asked.

"A considerable amount of men are injured, around nine so far. We also have five deaths." He looked sorrowful, even though he had only known the men for four or five days.

I sighed. "While this is terrible, it will set us back seriously. Ainsley, please grab Ariyan and Jolene. Also, the Travel General. Thank you."

Ainsley bowed and left the tent.

"We need to figure out how we are going to arrive on schedule." I thought out loud.

While I was speaking of duty, my mind was focused on that grey eyed Deities Child.