Meanwhile, a good six hundred miles away, preparations were already running at a high speed. Kebé had not been able to speak to Lavinia in detail, about what had happened, even though she would have liked to. There simply was not a free minute in her day, it was all stuffed with taking in new reports, checking on the newly recruited soldiers‘ progress and revising their routes and strategies, over and over again, while sending messenger after messenger back to the capital, to inform the noblefolk of her decisions. She did not, however, answer to, or even read the messages that came back. If they had complaints, they could voice them after she had won. And she knew they wouldn‘t dare. It was always before, when her success seemed uncertain to them, that they rebelled. They were wrong, of course. Most of the time her success was a given, and it was only a matter of time and efforts needed to get there. They did not understand that, as they knew nothing of war. She had made sure they didn‘t. Another problem was the escalation of the whole spy debacle, going on. She had had Isu issuing a warning, to try and prevent the news of their plan from spreading all too fast. However, she was sure that by now at least one of the hundreds of eyes Queen Mairo had, even here, had made it‘s way back and told on them. So now, it did not really matter anymore. Unfortunately, the villagers did not seem to see that. They brought people into the camp constantly, young women and men, that had moved here only recently, that had been acting suspiciously, that had been talking to no one, in cryptic words. A sign of being unwell, most likely, but she really did not have the time to explain that every ten minutes. So instead she had put Major Akosua on their case, instructing her to spare the obviously ill ones, yet to make sure they gave the impression of actually taking steps against the more credible accusations, if only to prevent the people from taking matters into their own hands. They did not need them inexpertly slaughtering their own, when they were supposed to prepare for slaughtering their enemies. Akosua had complied, and thankfully managed, to calm the general conscience with only ten executions so far, something Kebé was infinitely grateful for. They could not give even more attention to this. They were running out of time. The longer they waited to invade, the better their enemy‘s defense would be.

„My Queen.“ She let Isu into the tent, sitting down with her to throw one last look at their map. „So you really want to go east first? The way will be longer.“ „But as soon as we are inside, it will go much smoother. The communities in the east are mainly agricultural, they have few defenses, and Mairo hardly values them.“ „Won‘t our attacks be meaningless to her, then?“ She shrugged, trying to seem unconcerned. „So let her think them meaningless. We will use them, to gather resources and establish our presence, before we move on.“ They spent some more time, talking through details and finally assessing their current status. „Most of the soldiers are ready, and the carriages have already started moving, as to not slow us down too much.“, Isu stated. „The new ones are not fully trained yet, of course, but that is not something a few days would make a difference in. So I say, we march tomorrow.“ „Tomorrow? Are you sure?“ „My Queen“, she bowed, more formally than she usually would. „You know I would not suggest this to you, if I was not.“ Against her will Kebe smiled. „I know. Very well, we will do as you say.“ She was not unconcerned at all, but when she marched out, into the officers’ tent and gave them their orders, there was at least one drop of real excitement in her deliberately wide grin.

They rode at dawn, sun barely warming their faces and wind throwing them around, all decked out in heavy armor, and they stayed on their Ostriches until lunch, when they gave the animals a chance to rest. After that, it was directly onwards. They reached the eastern border a few hours before sundown, deciding to stay on their own territory for one more night. Kebé, of course, did not sleep. She took a few precious minutes to walk by Lavinias tent, not wanting to enter, just checking that the guards where on their posts. From this point on, they could be attacked at every time, and she wanted to play it safe.

The rest of the night was spent in her own tent, huddled into a corner, meditating and praying in turn. Kebé was not sure, if the old gods her ancestors had prayed to were still in power. Still, she prayed to them, thinking that it could not do any harm to really cover every potential source of danger there was. She was not afraid, of course. Why would she be? She had spent her entire childhood in battle, proudly riding on her mother’s lap, observing how she expelled the otherlanders, sending them back to their own realms in a flurry of too-bright materials and fancy technology. Their catapults had been quite impressive for sure, though they had not remained in her memory as clearly as their faces, when they realized their heavy weaponry made them too slow to escape the Fourth army, and they would have to abandon it, or be slaughtered. She remembered the noblefolk also, telling her mother to keep them, use them, develop them. And her mother laughing, free and feral with her head thrown back. „See how stupid they are?“, she had asked Kebé later that evening. „We have just proven that our mobility beats their equipment, and now they want me to sacrifice our mobility, so we can use their equipment? The amount of rum they put in their coffee must have killed their brains.“ Kebé had laughed, and then she had taken that lesson further than her mother had ever dared to, not only keeping the Otherlanders out but setting about realizing her great grandmothers dream of controlling the other Queens, to fix the mess they had created. She had put the Second Queen back in her place, putting just enough pressure on her to be able to focus entirely on structuring the parts of former Fifth Kingdom territory, before the First Queen snatched them from her, while the Third Kingdom, their former ally, lost it‘s grip through a series of power grabs after the last Queens death, with member of the royal family and citizens murdering and stealing from each other, the pathetic remains of their dynasty all over the place. Even now, that Queen Aia had held onto power for several years, the attempts they made on her, and each others’ lives kept coming.

It was sad, considering that Kebé , despite her lack of years, had a few memories left of them being a force to be reckoned with, of the old Queen visiting their court in diplomatic proceedings and her mothers pinched face, when considering how to deal with her. How much their luck had sunken! All the better for her, of course. She could take her time with the others, and then turn to stabilize them through her leadership. And then, when Lavinia had learned to completely play her part, they would choose new Queens for the other three lands, and return their beautiful lands to the security, prosperity, care, strength and love they deserved to be known for. The image lit up her face, at the same time the sun began to rise, drowning the camp in red light, as if the sky was bleeding. Surely, priestesses all over the enemy kingdom would be staring up at it in this exact second, wondering if it’s unusual coloring predicted their doom. Now, that would be a prophecy Kebé could get behind. She allowed her limbs to stretch thoroughly and went out, to greet it. She might not have to gift of prophecy, or the ability to read the sky, but if she predicted bloodshed, she knew it was bound to happen. Who needed predictions, if she could shape the future at will instead?

She wolfed down her grains, saddling her Ostrich and was the first to cross the border, her troops following right behind. The landscape was rough and the ride shaky and she relaxed into the familiar discomfort. She would need the relaxation. After all, it would only be a few hours before they reached the first settlements.

This evening, Lavinia sat cross-legged around a campfire, listening to Zoya chatting away with the other soldiers. In her hands, she held some sweet bread, a treat on any normal day. A treat, if she had not seen how they had collected it, if she had not heard the screams of a village overrun by an enemy, who, while not to keen on killing, was not exactly gentle either. Everyone fighting them was dead now, bodies draped on the warm earth, while the other inhabitants hid away in their houses, to scared to resist as the soldiers took their resources, almost entirely, to fill their stomachs after the attack. Lavinia had missed this kind of food while traveling with them, had looked forward to it. Now she could not eat it, simply staring down at her hands. Her entrails twisted and turned painfully, and she had to let go of the bread and put her fingers into the earth, letting it green anew with grass, after being burned, soothing it and letting herself be soothed. She wanted to scream, vomit, put everyone into plant prison but she knew she could not. The people doing this were not her enemies, that she had to remember. Zoya did not seem to sense her mood, blabbering away, full of adrenaline and burning with the rush of victory. Once again, Lavinia was alone. She stood up, excusing herself and retired to her tent. All her attempts at sleep failed. The soldiers outside, and her conscience inside were just too loud.