a l l i e

"Who I am and what I want are a secret."

Amidst the green leaves, the mosses upon the tree barks, the bushes that formed a painting of green with everything else; there, five figures hid. Three were roughly the same height, one was the tallest of them all, and the last of the five was the shortest. All were clad in similar garbs of black with a dash of green, which tells us one thing; they were all part of the same group. And the five stood there, eyeing an abandoned village not too far from where they stood.

"Is that the one?" asked one of the three, huddling close to the tallest one, "That village?"

He nodded, "Yes, that one. According to our scouts, that village was recently abandoned by the villagers due to some...event that occurred not too far from here,"

"Shouldn't we be worried about that little event than going there?"

The shortest figure in the group flashed out a knife and began to proceed towards the abandoned village; "We can discuss about that later. For now, our objective is to secure the remaining food supply in this village,"

The others watched the short one shifting from tree to tree, keeping close to the shadows until the short one eventually stepped outside of their hiding place. Her sharp violet eyes scanned the area before signaling to the others to come out. Seeing them slowly moving past the bushes, she turned back and strode straight into the village. Sheathing her knife, she drew out her sword and began to slowly pace about the area, eyeing the houses for any signs of food in the houses.

"Found anything, Goldhair?" asked the tallest man in their group.

The woman shook her head and turned back to the others; "Spread out. The faster we find something, the sooner we can leave this place," she pointed a finger at the tall man, "Berthold, check these houses near the entrance," and then she looked at the other three, "Auld, you go with Grenn to the houses near the crops. Don, you're coming with me to the houses on the other end,"

Nodding, they dispersed to their assigned locations. The woman, who was called 'Goldhair' earlier, hurried to the houses at the end of the village with Don tailing her from behind. She entered the first house to her left and with a swift kick to the door, she brought her sword down in a single arc. But what she slashed was nothing but air, the empty air of this abandoned village.

Don got to her side and looked about them; "Nothing here," he stepped away from her, "I'll search the kitchen,"

She acknowledged his words and proceeded to check upstairs. Goldhair reminded herself to be quick. After all, villages do attract other bandits aside from her group. If the other bandits were to arrive while they are still scavenging for food, well...

I lost a man back then. It won't happen again.

The first door to her right was open, as though to indicate that these people left in a hurry. But what could have made them leave so soon? Goldhair was aware of the current situation of the world, from everything else going down the drain in a matter of days to the New Erudia's armies claiming lands all around them; perhaps these villagers fear the coming force and fled before facing that danger. But to where? Even those people did not know. So long as they are far from danger, they will be fine; but how long can these people run with no place to go? She understood their sufferings, their pains, their sorrow.

She vowed to change all that.

Goldhair searched the rooms and found nothing but old clothes and smelly blankets. Sighing, she grabbed some of the old dresses and tunics and went downstairs, only to find Don with nothing but a piece of dried bun in his hand. The villagers really made sure that nothing was left.

Don shrugged and smiled sheepishly, "It's better than nothing, right?"

She managed a wan smile; "Come on, let's rendezvous with the others,"

But just as they were about to step out of the house, something sharp flew past her ear and hit the side of the door. Goldhair quickly turned, seeing Don on his knees with blood sprouting out from the arrow in his throat. Cursing, she snatched the bun from his hand and hurried back to where the others gathered, trapped between four bandits.

Berthold drew his sword and swung at them in full, causing the bandits to back away from his swing. As he did this, Goldhair took the opportunity to stab at one of the bandits, who was unaware of her presence from behind, and quickly got to Berthold's side.

"Why, all we want is food, missy," said one of the bandits, inching closer to grab the bun from her hand, "We're nothing but poor hungry folks, so give us some, eh?"

Goldhair was half planning to throw the dried bun away, but before she could do it, Auld and Grenn stepped in front of them and attacked the bandits head on.

"Your Highness!" cried Grenn, "We'll hold them off!"

Auld managed to land a clumsy blow on one of the bandits, "Avalantiaaaaa!!"

She looked at them in amazement; not too long ago, Auld, Grenn, and Don were mere peasants with no experience with a sword. Of course, three lessons in swordplay with Berthold was not enough to make them efficient fighters. But they had no choice; they were the only few able-bodied men in their group that were able pick up a sword and do a good swing with it. Now, she had already lost Don, and soon, Auld and Grenn.

Berthold placed a firm grip on her shoulder, realising what she planned to do; "We are outnumbered, Goldhair. Let's not put their sacrifice to waste,"

She turned to glare at him, her violet eyes full of hate and loathe, but within it, there was defeat too. He was right; they were outnumbered. Goldhair uttered a curse under her breath and turned away from the struggling two, running back to their camp, their current home, with Berthold following close from behind.

And once again, she vowed.

- - -

It was quite a sight to behold, she thought as she leaned on the side of her tent. Goldhair watched the children tearing the buns into very small pieces and gave them to the elderly men and women first before they munched on it themselves. Their mothers helped their children by feeding the rest with a spoonful of rabbit broth, something they managed to catch while Goldhair and the others were away. This was both a delayed lunch and a late dinner. This was how it went on for months after the fall of the kingdom of Avalantia.

One of the women offered her a bowl of rabbit broth, but Goldhair took only a spoonful of the broth and gave the rest back to the woman. She smiled; "If you are all having a spoonful, then I too will have a spoonful,"

Minutes later, Berthold returned with two young men, their newly-trained scouts, and had his fill of dinner as well. She watched him for a moment before gesturing for him to enter her tent.

Goldhair pulled the flap down over the entrance to her tent after he entered and turned to the map that was laid out on a table before them. She looked at it and noted that it was quite an old map, salvaged from an abandoned house not too long ago. It was old simply because Avalantia and the names of the rest of the kingdoms were still mentioned on each part of the continent when it is already gone by now, either destroyed by other kingdoms or 'taken' by New Erudia. In the case of New Erudia, 'taken' signified both destroyed and conquered.

"Berthold," she began as she stared at the map intently, "Today, I have lost three men in a...worthless attempt to search for food,"

He only looked at her, as though he knew what to expect from her.

She slammed her fists on the table, "THREE MEN, Berthold! Not one; THREE, ALTOGETHER!"

"Calm down, Goldha--"

"You think I should be calm? You think I should...just...sacrifice my people like that!?" Goldhair glared at him, "I am Princess Daena Avanteo, the First of Her Name, daughter to King Duval Avanteo III, ruler of Avalantia. I am a princess, and a princess is suppose to protect her people, to offer them safety!"

"And you have done so, Your Highness, for the time being," he replied, leaning on one of the poles that held up the tent, "You have accomplished more than any other princesses have ever done in times like these,"

"For what, Sir Berthold Orrey? So we can go hungry for another day and lose more men!?" she squeezed the ends of the table and stared down at the map, "We can't go on like this forever, Berthold. We...we need Avalantia, no-- a home. A home for all of us,"

Sighing, he moved to where she stood and looked down at her, "I understand your concerns, Your Highness. Like you, I too have seen the people traveling with us. I have seen their suffering," he placed a concerned hand on her tired shoulders, "But you are still young, only 20 years of age, and the fall of your homeland happened only months ago. It is natural for you to feel this way, Your Highness, but you must understand that certain things cannot be accomplished in a matter of minutes,"

She looked up at him, holding back the tears in her eyes; "I am at loss, Sir Berthold, truly, I am,"

Berthold paused for a moment, pondering on something, and then he continued; "You say we need Avalantia, no?"

Daena nodded, "Yes,"

"Then we need an army to face the rest of these forces, and a safe place where we can leave our followers in the mean time," he stood back and touched his beard thoughtfully, "Do you remember the lords? The lords who were part of the court of Avalantia?"

She wondered about this, and instantly, the memory returned; "Yes, I remember they...managed to flee before the attack began," the word 'flee' intrigued her. If they managed to get away before the castle went down with the attack, they may still be alive somewhere out there. Probably back in their homelands; "Berthold, I know what you're thinking of, but persuading the lords..."

He chuckled lightly, "And the lords claimed that they could never refuse your words. You shame me, Goldhair,"

A small smile formed on her lips at his jest, "It seems that I haven't been my optimistic self, lately," she nodded, "It is decided then,"

Berthold nodded in agreement.

"We will form an army, and we will march for the one force that took away all our hopes and dreams of Avalantia," her finger moved to a particular spot on the map, the only part of the map that still proved its authenticity,

"New Erudia,"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm really horrid at fight scenes. It's either I become too abstract with it or too straightforward.

This is actually a post in reply to a roleplay forum I joined a very long time ago. I thought it might have potential. Somewhat.

At the very least, the story is very much influenced by none other than George R.R. Martin himself. For those who find the name somewhat familiars (to readers of ASOIAF), Daena reminds you of Daenerys, does it not?

Well, technically, the names are both quite similar. But Daena herself is a character of her own (not this one that I wrote but in the actual story by Martin). She was said to be very headstrong and adventurous. A lot of...back-stories to that, but the fact that her traits were so brought about the creation of Daena Avanteo.

Similar to Daenerys's (or Dany, as others would call her), she leads the survivors away from her father's kingdom, Avalantia, in hopes that she will find a safer haven for her people after New Erudia's latest expansion plan that involved Avalantia in the process of it.

She has siblings, yes. In fact, she had four brothers. Three died protecting the kingdom from New Erudia. The other one, Daena's eldest brother, Daeren, was believed to have drowned at sea. But Daena refused to believe that, instead, choosing to believe that her brother was still alive; missing, but alive.

You would think he'd come running to save his family, but no, he didn't.

And I suppose it's also one way for me to test the human limit through this one. How much stress can one person endure before they break completely?

Then again, this story is one of the many stories I've put on hold. My current focus is on an old one, one that I've been wanting to finish all these while.

You see, it all began with this abandoned temple...