(Year 0)

I had to admit, Falcondar Castle was an impressive sight, as long as the word ‘impressive’ wasn’t taken in any sort of positive way. It was a massive, blockish structure, lacking any of the former Shairiselan palace’s grace. It was built out of the same pale stone as everything else, but there seemed to be no way it could have blended into the terrain; it was like a brutish child, bragging that it wasn’t supposed to be there. And it was even more sudden at night. It seemed to come out of nowhere, blotting out the stars and blocking the usual cool wind.

I turned to the five people standing around me. “Welcome to the Lightshow Squadron, everyone,” I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “We have the most important job.” Even as I said it, I was cursing the council. Like they really expect me not to go inside.

“You’re nervous, aren’t you?” someone spoke up.

I narrowed my eyes at the girl who’d spoken. “I’m nowhere Dasing close. I’m just anticipating my revenge,” I snapped. “Don’t push your cowardly emotions on your betters just because you don’t know how to get rid of them yourself.”

She huffed at me, then turned back to the castle. There were a few more diversion groups stationed around it, none large enough to cause suspicion, but my group was the main one. That much, at least, they had entrusted to me.

“After the signal, our job is to open fire on the wall as we close in,” I instructed. “Other groups surrounding it will do the same, allowing our true strike force to scale the wall and get inside.”

A boy in my group -- barely a teen by the looks of him -- squirmed uncomfortably. “Highness?”

That’s better. “Yes?”

“Our group specializes in ranged weapons, but there’s nothing we can do to that wall.”

“We don’t need to bring it down,” I said with a grin. “We just need to shake it. Names, everyone?”

They froze. “What?” someone asked.

“Tell me your names so we can communicate.”

“Shouldn’t we have done this earlier?” the girl from before accused.

“Name,” I growled.

“Fezilia.” Her hand drifted to a row of strangely orange throwing knives at her hip as she glared at me. “And what is your problem?”

“You’re a jerk. And your weapon of choice reminds me of someone else I also highly dislike.” Without letting her respond, I turned to the rest of the group.

“I’m Mareis,” the boy who’d addressed me properly said. He had a bow slung across his back, along with a handaxe attached to his belt.

The other three turned out to be Gwelyn, Defyn, and Asaida. Gwelyn and Defyn looked to be twins, each carrying a hefty shotgun and a belt of extra ammunition, while Asaida had a long rifle slung across her back.

“Alright,” I said, nodding to each of them. “They wanted a lightshow. Let’s give them a lightshow.”

“What’s the signal?”

I let a ball of fire smolder to life in my hand. “I am.”

Then I turned and chucked it at the wall.

Chaos followed. My fireball only caused a tiny scorch mark to appear on the wall, but this set the guards atop it into high alert. Shouts rang through the night air as weapons were focused on my group, who, like the well-oiled attack squadron they were, had frozen completely in shock.

Before the guards could fire, another explosion shook the wall off to my right as someone shot a charge weapon at the structure. My group finally got their wits back about them and charged forward. The twins darted to one side of the street simultaneously, orange flashes flying from their shotguns. Asaida glanced at them and took off down the other side, pulling her rifle from her back.

The enemy finally returned fire. I jumped to the side out of instinct as an arrow whizzed past me, hitting the street with an anticlimactic thunk. More followed, however, and I was forced to dart behind the nearest building.

“What now, Leader?” Fezilia asked, challenge in her voice as she and Mareis followed me.

“Fire back, numbskull.” I jumped back out from our shelter and let fire ball up in my hands again, hurling one projectile after another.

“You want me to throw things at a pile of stone.”

“Precisely.”

With a shrug, she pulled two knives from her belt. From this distance, I thought there was a low chance of her actually hitting the wall, but to my surprise, she wound her arm with a blur of movement and hurled the first knife in a powerful underhand throw, causing it to explode against the wall with a boom. I suspected that technique gave her next to no accuracy, but I had to admit it was a powerful throw.

“Nice throwing stars,” I muttered for my own entertainment.

An arrow whistled by my head up toward the wall, tip glowing orange. When it impacted near the top, it exploded, taking a small chunk of stone with it and causing a few guards to stumble back from their posts.

“Nice,” I commented to Mareis without turning around, then ran forward in a crouch. I heard the other two follow me. The guards had focused their fire on the other three, who were tirelessly blowing up everything in their vicinity, which gave us a momentary advantage. I summoned a ball of fire and took aim, shooting it at one of the bowmen atop the wall. He screamed and collapsed, burning.

Fezilia straightened beside me, and I saw a projectile flick out of her hand as she swept it up with a powerful motion. The blade hit another guard and exploded, taking him out in a rather gruesome fashion. The five members of my team continued to take down guards, creating a beautiful web of cracks and dents in the wall in the process.

Just as I readied myself to fire, I heard shouts to the side and looked over. I could barely see around the turn of the wall to where a large group was attacking the castle’s gate. They bore a massive banner sporting the raven seal, along with another that displayed the traditional Shairiselan dragon flag. Stage Two of the diversion was beginning.

A yelp caused me to concentrate back on my surroundings. Asaida had taken an arrow in her leg and collapsed. I hurried over, wincing at the damage. It had gone all the way through to one side of her shin bone, and blood was dripping out next to the shaft.  Fezilia and I hurried over while Mareis did his best to defend us, releasing arrow after arrow at the guards.

“Snap off the head,” Fezilia said from behind me. Asaida complied, breaking off the barbed point before pulling the rest of the arrow out with a sharp gasp of pain.

Fezilia turned to me. “Don’t you have healing spells?”

“I, uh…” I stuttered, feeling sheepish for the first time. “I never really studied those as much as Takaren did. I can heal myself, I mean, but…”

Fezilia rolled her eyes, turning back to Asaida and trying to help her to her feet. “Gwelyn and Defyn?” she called.

The twins glanced over from where they were still barraging the wall with shots.

“Get her out of here,” Fezilia ordered. They complied, letting the injured girl put her arms around their shoulders as they hurried away.

Feeling frustrated, I turned to the wall with a scowl.  It wasn’t my fault I hadn’t studied healing -- I’d been focused on the bigger picture. I wasn’t going to feel guilty about it.

“Wind, carry flame from my hand, and burn my enemies at my command,” I chanted, holding out a hand palm-forward. A jet of fire erupted forward, concentrated in a tight stream. It impacted the base of the wall with a thunderous rumble, and I gritted my teeth, moving my hand up slowly as I forced more fire into the attack. Guards atop the wall scattered as it shook, diving to the sides.

I finally extinguished the stream, feeling considerably better despite the draining effect the spell had on my energy. “I now consider it shaken,” I announced.

With the other three in the clear, the three of us rushed the wall again, keeping up a steady rate of fire to keep the guards’ attention on us. I started hurling more fireballs, ignoring the strain it was starting to cause. Each one pulled up through my arm more noticeably than the last before materializing in my hand and flying toward the wall.

Fezilia reached to her belt, only to find that she was out of knives. With a huff, she reached into her boots, pulling out two more and letting them fly. “I’m all out,” she admitted. “Kallista would kill me if she was here.”

I paused. “You know Kallista?”

“Duh. She’s one of our best fighters.”

And I’m not? I wanted to snap. I was tired of being the “new person”, even though I was a Crown of Shairisel. Takaren had died for this organization’s cause, and they couldn’t even give her sibling the honor of coming into the castle. It wasn’t my fault I wasn’t as legendary as Takaren had been. It wasn’t my fault I couldn’t help my team in the ways they just happened to need.

Alright, it’s official. I’m done being stuck on the outside. “I suppose you’re done then,” I told Fezilia. “Go find Asaida and protect her, I guess. Tell the other two to come back.”

Then I turned back to the wall. “Dragon’s Wings,” I said loudly. Instantly, a pair of brilliant golden wings erupted from my back. They looked to be made of light, but still were perfectly capable of launching me into the air. Fire flickered along their edges as I shot upward, coming to the eye level of a group of guards. Their eyes widened as I dropped onto the crenellations next to them.