When the mountains skirts began to grace the earth, they met the first villagers. They came towards them, most of them in their nightgowns, barefooted. Women carrying their toddlers, older children, running around them and the occasional grandmother or grandfather, slowly making their way away from the dangers, limping and stumbling over the earth’s folds. They left two soldiers behind for their protection, after questioning some of them, who confirmed that this was, in fact, done by the First army and sent every new person they met to them. They were riding very fast now, anxious that there might be nothing worth saving when they arrived.

Soon after, the silhouette of houses came into view, almost consumed by clouds of black smoke.

„They‘re burning it down. But I don‘t think the fighting is over yet.“, Zoya urged. At this point, the General made Lavinia change to her horse, staying behind a bit, while the other soldiers moved in. Lavinia was twitchy from nerves, barely able to accept their slower pace, but General Isu ignored her attempts at speeding them up.

„There is no need for you to experience the brunt of battle. The destruction will be lesson enough, I would say, and it is infinitely safer to enter later.“

So they rode slowly, and when they finally passed the gates into the village, Lavinia believed to have missed the fight entirely. She turned out to be wrong. Screams and curses sounded through the houses, paired with the clanking of metal on metal. General Isu lifted her onto the ground, sending the animal back out to wait for them, and positioned herself in front of Lavinia, before allowing her to proceed. And so they ventured further.

The smell quickly became unbearable, blood and burned flesh penetrating the air around them. The houses were ruins by this point, and she did not dare to stop and inspect them, out of fear to see what had been left of those grandparents, that weren‘t able to walk anymore. When they closed in on the center, bodies started lining the streets, most of them belonging to village men, brutally struck down, with the occasional soldier between them, light green uniforms stained ugly with dark red blood. Lavinias stomach cramped violently. She forced the sentiment down, knowing that the General would remove her, should she show any signs of physical distress.

„This is why you make your uniforms either black, or red.“, Isu muttered. „So you can at least lie dead in honor.“

The corpses that first met them had already stopped bleeding, the ones they passed now were fresher, blood still dripping from their wounds. In front of them, Zoya‘s unit fought violently against the enemy, and though it was hard to see anything in the turmoil, Lavinia had the impression that the death count in both sides was rising.

A village boy, barely old enough to have a beard yet, stormed past her with horror in his eyes, pursued by a green soldier with a slim blade. Lavinia shrieked, while Isu unsheathed her swords in a matter of seconds, cutting a precise red line into the green. The soldier fell apart, wounds gushing blood all over Lavinias. This time she was not able to stop her body from responding. The smell of decay and the warm feel of blood on her feet became to much. She doubled over, vomiting her entire breakfast onto the dead body, to the soundtrack of the General swearing loudly. It did not cease, until there was nothing left inside of her and her eyes were burning with tears. She gagged a few more times, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and turned away from the visual quickly to prevent herself from losing control again. It was only then that she noticed the General had gone silent, paying little attention to her, in favor of looking around incredulously. Lavinia followed her eyes, to the market square, were the fighting had stopped. She could not believe her eyes. The entire village was green. Not the light green of the soldiers’ uniforms, but a darker shade, stemming from myriads of plants that had grown over everything. Every building, every centimeter of the ground, every variation of armor and every single blade was covered in it. Even the corpses on the ground were not spared, wild flowers shielding them from their view and hiding their wounds. More than that, no one on the square was moving. They could not, Lavinia realized, were restrained by nature, just like she had been yesterday. She spit out, clearing the taste of vomit from her mouth. It had no place anymore, when she had succeeded like this. The General‘s attention went back to her, grabbing her face with iron fingers and checking her for wounds. Lavinia let her. She was not hurt, and neither was she intimidated anymore. After finishing her inspection, Isu took a step back and shook her head slightly, completely at a loss.

Her first question however, was matter-of-factly, as usual. „Can you undo this? Because we will need our soldiers back.“

„You did this?“, Someone exclaimed next to them. They had almost forgotten the boy, who was now staring at Lavinia in awe. „How? And who are you, even? You‘re not dressed like a soldier.“ Isu opened her mouth to reply, but Lavinia cut her off. If she was going down this path, she would do it properly.

She straightened her chest, trying to look as dignified as possible when covered in blood and vomit and steeled her voice. „My name is Lavinia, and I am the heir to the Fifth Queen of the known lands.“

He sucked in a sharp breath, doubt clouding his eyes for a moment, surely thinking that the Fifth Queen was only a fairy tale, something for children to believe in. Then he threw one more look at the state of his village and wordlessly dropped to his knees. „I…it is an honor to have you here.“, he stammered. „Is there anything I could help you with?“

Lavinia contemplated that for a second, and nodded gracefully. „There is indeed. You can help us, by identifying the members of your village, that I have restrained with the soldiers. I do think I can undo it, but probably only all at once.“, she added , addressing Isu‘s query. „So if we only want our soldiers, and village people to be released, you will need to kill the others, before I free everyone.“

The General‘s eyes widened, but she drew her weapon without resistance, gesturing for the boy to follow her, to make sure she did not accidentally decimate the villagers even further.

Lavinia stayed behind. She had seen enough bloodshed for a day. Instead, she focused on the houses, trying to lead energy from the earth into their foundations. Water ran from the plants into the remains, mixing with dirt, making clay that ran along the scorched parts, covering them. She willed it to harden faster, to offer protection against the elements for now at least, so the villagers would have time to rebuild it better, without worrying about freezing to death. She was so concentrated on her task that she did not realize Isu had returned, until someone tapped her shoulder.

Looking at the village would only remind her of the blood she had effectively spilled just now, so she chose not to. Instead, she inhaled and exhaled a few times, fresh, flowery scents filling her nostrils. The energy sizzled and sparked inside of her, and she imagined taking it into her hands, a small ball of power that belonged to her, and her only. The she let it go.

The earth rushed out of her, leaving her open and vulnerable in milliseconds and she gasped, collapsing. In the corner of her eye, the General scrambled forward to catch her. Then everything went black and she drowned in a dream of silk and blood.

There was a woman, with long flowing hair and she chased after her, running as fast as her legs could carry her. But her legs were too short, and too weak and she was left behind. She shouted for the woman to stop. Just when she was leaving, her long hair turned into ivy ranks, spreading over the ground and she fell, through the earth, becoming one with it‘s core.