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It didn\'t help, that on top of the emperor\'s drastic mood shift, he\'d also commanded that the camp halt for the day, less than 24 hours after claiming they needed to travel at double speed.

Just what kind of horrific fate has he planned for us that could placate him this way? The officers wondered, shivering with fear and glancing nervously toward their toes.

Calix\'s mind, however, was filled only with thoughts of a certain blonde-haired woman. Of her soft warm skin and sparkling blue-green eyes. Of her gentle lips and the adorable way her tongue hesitantly ventured into his mouth.

"Haaa," The emperor let out a sigh, causing those nearest to him to flinch.

Perhaps he should go find Keliyah immediately and drag her back to his tent.

The tiny amount of dedication toward his duties left inside him, however, won out in the end, and he stayed put at the meeting.

Naturally, the conversation among the officers drifted back to Mevani.

"We have reason to believe that Mevani soldiers are nearby," the Second General reported. "My scouts who returned yesterday said they have practically infested this forest."

"This is worrisome," the Third General rubbed his chin. "Should we increase the number of soldiers in our patrols?"

"For now, that won\'t be necessary," the First General spoke up. "We\'ve carefully laid out the patrol routes to ensure our soldiers will always be within earshot of camp. The entire cavalry could be summoned with a single call."

"I see.." the Third General nodded slowly. "It still makes me nervous, though, to think of such a small group alone in the trees."

When they all turned to Calix for his input, he already had a solution in mind.

"It would leave our camp defenseless to send out patrols large enough to fend off a Mevani attack," he reasoned. "Why not just increase the frequency of patrols instead?"

"That makes sense!" the Second General exclaimed. "That way we\'ll never have a single large group of soldiers far away from camp, but every patrol will have backup nearby."

The rest of the officers agreed with Calix\'s solution and began eagerly planning arrangements. After several minutes of discussion, when the meeting was winding to a close, an unexpected guest burst through the tent\'s door.

"Sirs! And Sire!" the man panted, placing his hands on his knees. "We\'ve received a concerning report!"

The man went on to detail how the entire morning patrol had missed their checkpoint, and there was no sign of them near the route.

"How many cavalrymen were part of the group that disappeared?" an officer spoke quickly.

"Only one," the man making the report shook his head. "Unfortunately, there were also two new recruits as well."

"New recruits?!" the Third General shouted. "How could two inexperienced soldiers end up in the same patrol? That\'s dangerous for the whole group!"

"A last minute swap was made by one of the archery squads," the man continued timidly under the general\'s wrath. "It ended up being the two kids shipped in from Tael who finished top of their class in the Lion Cam-"

SMASH!

The quill and bottle of ink set before the emperor were now on the ground, both broken into several pieces.

Without a word, the emperor flew out of the tent, his officers erupting into chaos behind him.

Galloping on his horse, it didn\'t take long to find the trail of the missing patrol. And at the end of that trail, he found a disturbing scene.

The men who had managed to follow behind him gasped and shouted as they burst into the clearing.

Four cold bodies lay in their own blood, clear signs of a fight surrounding them.

Not one of them, fortunately, belonged to Keliyah.

Jumping from his horse, the emperor began to inspect the brush surrounding the clearing while soldiers swarmed in to retrieve their fallen comrades.

Quickly, he found another trail leading away from the clearing.

The trail was made by two people, each moving slowly and carefully--so carefully that, at times, Calix could no longer discern their tracks.

"It looks like they got away," he breathed as he realized the trail makers had been working their way back to the patrol route.

The tracks came to an abrupt end before ever reaching the route though, and rather than two safe soldiers, the emperor discovered another gruesome scene.

The boy.

The Pandreian boy who paid far too much attention to Keliyah.

His injuries were severe, and he lay in a bleeding heap in the dirt. He looked similar to the other corpses except for the tiny, staggered rise and fall of his chest.

With trembling hands, the emperor stepped over the boy and searched the rest of the bushes.

Was Keliyah still alive too?

If one soldier managed to survive, it should have been Keliyah instead of-

"You.." Calix snapped, turning back to the Pandreian boy. "Where is she?"

There was no response from the bloodied heap.

"I asked you!" Calix shouted, bending and grabbing the boy\'s shoulders.

A quiet groan escaped from the boy\'s throat, and one of his eyelids barely cracked open.

"Where. Is. Kel." Calix hissed.

The boy opened his mouth but no sound came out.

"Tell me!!!" the emperor boomed, his fingers digging into the boy\'s skin.

"... T-t-took.. her," the boy managed to mumble before falling unconscious again.

"Ha."

The emperor got to his feet, pressing blood-covered fingers into his forehead.

"They... took her?"

He grit his teeth as he remembered giving Keliyah permission to return to her duties. He should have never done so.

Every time he finally had her in his grasp, she was whisked away. It was as if the universe itself was doing all it could to keep her away from him.

But Calix didn\'t care about the universe and its \'will\'.

Keliyah was his. And he was hers.

And he would bring her back no matter what.

"This is my fault," Calix sighed, slowly drawing his sword, "for letting her out of my sight."

His gaze turned to the unconscious soldier at his feet.

​ "But it was your fault too," he whispered, "for not protecting her."

The boy groaned again, as if in response.

"Don\'t fret," Calix scoffed, raising his sword.

"If any of the others had survived, they would have met the same fate."