112 Rivals (1/2)

We had twenty minutes to prepare for their arrival. In that time, I had Ashley's entire Shield squad line up in two neat rows on each side of our iron double front doors like an honor guard awaiting guests.

Of course, we made sure their brand new bronze shields and electrum-grade chain mails underneath their midnight blue Foolhardies tabard were spick and span, shining brilliantly under Idunn's light.

Luca's Ravagers lined up in ordered rows on the grounds east of the steps leading up to the entryway. Azuma's Immortals were lined up on the west.

I had Thom's Hazy Moon man the twelve-foot tall broken walls. At least the ones that still had solid footing.

Twenty of the new kobold unit—the ones I hadn't sent out with Thor to acquire intel around the Westmarch—manned the tower's battlements alongside Qwipps' Talons.

I stood by the doors while flanked by Varda on my left and Xanthor on my right.

\”What if they want to fight, Commander?\” Varda asked worriedly. \”We've only just begun renovations… I'd hate to think what that would do to our coffers if a fight broke out.\”

I glanced down at my Quartermaster and saw the bead of sweat dribbling down her forehead. Her pretty face twisted in a worried look that didn't suit her usual happy-go-lucky attitude.

\”It'll be fine,\” I said, patting her on her broad shoulder. \”I'll ask them to not hit the scaffolding.\”

\”They better not,\” Varda grumbled. \”Even temporary scaffoldings cost Leprechauns.\”

I smirked at Varda while thinking I might need to get her some help. This nameless tower was in need of a Seneschal at least.

It wasn't more than five minutes later, when I gazed out past the makeshift tents we'd made for the soldiers' temporary barracks, that I saw several dozen riders approaching.

They must have been at least a two-hundred cavalry with another three hundred on foot following far behind them. The riders all wore a similar padded doublet like the one Azuma wore. Only, theirs were a lighter shade of blue than ours. It was weird as bright azure wasn't usually standard for any standing army serving under the Trickster Pavilion.

Above them rose the Trickster's banners along with a second banner I didn't recognize. On its azure field, two sapphire fairy wings shaped like double-sided blades gleamed like they'd been made with lines of glitter. Although it was similar enough in design to Great General Lavinia Folkor's Fairy Flag that I assumed this unit was working for her.

\”Sheesh, these guys are making my guys nervous… their formation's a mess,\” Xanthor observed.

To the right of this new army was Xanthor's Dash Riders, and compared to the uniformity of the group they trailed behind, Xanthor's guys really did look like a rabble of amateurs.

\”Remind me to push more formation training for your squad,\” I said to him.

The swifthart rider at the head of the unit suddenly dashed forward, forcing the soldiers around the fairy to rush in after it. This small group of soldiers made quick work navigating our meager wooden barricades and broken walls, and not until they'd arrived right at the tower steps and between our row of shields did the lead rider stop.

\”Water,\” she said in a lyrical voice that reminded me too much of Qwipps. However, the fairy looking up at me with such pretty eyes—the left one red and the right one violet—looked nothing like Qwipps. Here was someone of beauty and authority to rival even Aura.

Her command seemed to drill into my brain, pushing me to move before I even noticed that I'd walked down the steps with my canteen in hand.

I reached up my hand and offered the canteen to her while she sat on her pale green swifthart smiling down at me in that flirty way pretty girls often did.

She had an angular face with long bushy eyebrows, high cheekbones, a long straight nose, and heart-shaped lips that oozed sex appeal. Her hair was long, dark, and plaited. A wreath of flowers rested on her head.

A pale long-fingered hand took the canteen from me, and as she placed it on her lips and drank her fill, I couldn't help feeling that every movement she'd made was meant to stimulate something inside me.

When she was done drinking, she tossed me back my canteen and said, \”I expect your hospitality.\”

She smiled at me, showing off perfect white teeth.

\”You have it,\” I answered, almost half in a daze.

Jensen led her and her entourage to our makeshift stables, and only then did I feel the fog lift from my mind. But maybe it had something to do with Luca appearing at my side to smack me hard on the shoulder.

\”Get a grip, Dean,\” he said, shaking his head.

\”Wh-what was that for?\” I asked, defensively.

\”You were drooling,\” Luca said, rolling his eyes. \”When are you going to stop letting fem-fairies glamour you so easily?\”

\”I wasn't glamoured,\” I answered hotly.

\”Uh, yeah… you were,\” he replied, shaking his head again.

I smacked Luca on the shoulder. \”Was not.\”

He smacked me back on my shoulder. \”Was too!\”

We smacked each other a few more times before Varda came down and told us we were causing a scene with the new arrivals.

I glanced over to the stables and the pixie commander of this new group. She was looking back at me with a smirk on her face.

\”Geez… if she's my rival then I'm way out of my league,\” I sighed.

\”She's five-Hundred Man Commander, Verania Folkor, niece of Great General Lavinia Folkor,\” Darah revealed. \”I hear she's quite the vixen, Commander, so better watch out.\”

While her forces settled in and pitched tents on the grounds closer to the Titania, the pixie commander and her entourage opted to stretch their legs inside the tower's entryway.