Chapter 20

Aicha

Bruno took a big swig from the flask full of cider that Alex had ”borrowed” from his uncle, and with a newly found enthusiasm, started to tell us what he had learned.

“The Queen will attack the tribes in the East when spring comes. The soldiers are worried they will be called to take arms and be forced to join the campaign.”

“I hope they will die”, Alex spat and wrestled the flask from Bruno, taking a big chug.

“If they do, others will come”, Emma sighed, looking into the fire. “At least those are not so bad.”

“All of them are the same, evil, greedy, stupid bastards.” Alex paused to take another gulp before passing it to Emma. “They need to die.”

We all nodded in agreement. We knew what they did to our land and our people. Showing mercy was out of the question, and we swore to each other to never give up the fight and accept the Queen's rule like our parents had. We were Sara’s army, ready to rise and rebel when she came to liberate the Valley.

I tried to be careful with the cider, remembering that I still needed to climb back to my room, but after a few more rounds, I didn't care any longer. If we were ready to face the wrath of the Queen and fight her troops, climbing the walls of my house seemed like a silly obstacle.

Cider was a rare treat, and we normally needed to settle on the beer Emma liberated from her father. It was a carefully crafted plan aimed at weakening his relationship with the Captain, who was a frequent guest at Emma’s house and liked the beer her family made.

“So…” Bruno took another swig. “What shall we do next?”

We stayed silent, avoiding looking at each other. It was obvious we needed to warn Sara about the Queen's intentions, but if she didn’t come to free us before the spring, how would we do it?

“Maybe Sara has spies here...” Emma said carefully. “If we find them, we could tell them about it.”

“Don’t be stupid”, Alex frowned. “If Sara had any spies here, she would know about the Queen’s plans already.”

“Right.” Emma took another swing and passed the flask to me.

“I don’t think she has any in the Valley…” I took a big gulp of cider and looked at the fire. “Except us…”

Everyone looked at me and nodded.

“We are her army!”, Bruno cried.

“We are her army!”, we hollered back.

“We need to find her and tell her about the Queen's plans.” I finished the flask and threw it on the ground.

Everyone cheered at my plan. For some reason, they rarely cheered at my ideas, but this time, it was different. I smiled, feeling extremely proud. It was a brilliant plan.

With the cider gone, we returned to our homes and decided to meet in a few days to plan our quest. There was so much to do. We needed to gather supplies, find out where Sara was, and find a way to sneak out of the valley without raising any suspicions from our parents.

We also had to find a way not to make them suspicious since we would be gone for weeks. That one would be a real challenge, I thought as I quietly sneaked around my house and looked up at my bedroom window. It seemed to be much higher than I remembered it to be.