Interlude: A Humble Plea

PRINCESS CAMILA WEPT QUIETLY, bereft of sleep upon her bed.

An hour ago, a messenger delivered an urgent report on behalf of Grandmaster Godwin. The Princess expected it to be an appeal against the ongoing blockade of the Adventurer’s Guild, at the hands of the Imperial Inquisitors dispatched at her behest.

What she received, however, was a death notice of the Rose’s Thorns.

According to the report, the Thorns had left the Capital on a top priority mission, mere hours before the Inquisitorial retinue arrived. The Adventurer’s Guild hadn’t been warned of the coming interdiction, thus allowing multiple parties to embark on their quests unimpeded.

The Rose’s Thorns were one of them, and they had gone on a mission that Princess Camila herself had ordered: to delve into the Forbidden Forest, in search of the Dead Tree.

It was a grim and dangerous quest, one which the Princess did not issue lightly. She had appointed Lord Silvano, the Hero of the Realm, to provide the Thorns with all the support and resources necessary to succeed and return home safely.

Princess Camila had personal history with each of them, and no matter if fate had pulled them apart, she still loathed the notion of placing their lives in peril. But alas, the Princess was a head of state in a time of crisis, and she bore the responsibility to utilize every resource at her disposal... even if they were her friends.

“I’m sorry…” cried the Princess, her voice a soft, mournful whimper.

When she received the news, she kept her composure, and asked the messenger to elaborate. Apparently, at the fall of dusk, the vitals monitoring spells of the whole party’s guild cards had been lost. It happened so quickly that the Guild received no signs of injury — only a harrowing silence, with no response to long-range telepathy attempts.

“I’m so sorry, Amelia… Xana… Cerys...” the Princess called their names amid her tears. After the Thorns’ departure from her service, so many things had been left unsaid, so many promises gone unfulfilled. And now, they would remain so forever.

“I beg of you, Lady Faydan,” the Princess beckoned the Goddess, “please do not forsake them. Please, find it in you to make this just a terrible mistake. Don’t take them away from me.”

The Princess had already lost her mother and brother long ago, and her father’s life hung from a thread. If she lost the Thorns, too, she felt like her heart would shatter.

Yet, with the presence of the Inquisition in the Capital, the Adventurer’s Guild had been paralyzed by her own doing. The Princess couldn’t even mobilize the army for a search and rescue operation, or she would risk war if details of the Thorns’ mission were exposed.

Her hands were tied. All she could do was curse her impotence and beg the Goddess for mercy, as she sobbed alone in the darkness of her room.

Then — a miracle.

“Your Highness,” spoke Amelia’s voice, loud and clear inside her head.

The Princess’ heart almost leapt from her chest, as she shot up from her pillow.

“I deeply apologize for the intrusion,” Amelia’s voice continued, “but I must request an audience with you. It’s urgent.”

As the Princess’ brain raced to find an explanation, she felt a telepathic link between herself and the friend she was mourning. As Lady Faydan would have it, Amelia was very much alive, and just beyond the defensive ward on her window.

“How in the world…” the Princess muttered, staring at her friend. Her room was in a tower at the top of the Royal Palace’s central keep, yet Amelia was quietly floating outside, with Xana and Cerys next to her. Furthermore, a man the Princess had never seen was holding a concealment barrier behind them.

“Is this working?” rang Xana’s voice, forming a clumsier, but stable connection to the Princess’ mind. “Yo, Princess! I’m sorry if we scared you, but we have some huge news for you! Like, you have no idea!”

She was as carefree and excited as Princess Camila remembered.

“Don’t be rude,” Cerys chastised her. “But Xana is right, your Highness. We’ve come to you with a report about the Cult of Croxas, and solid intelligence on their ringleader.”

And that was most definitely Cerys.

Princess Camila could feel it, beyond any shred of a doubt. The people outside were no impostors, but an honest answer to her prayers.

Lady Faydan had delivered.

“Amelia… Everyone…” said the Princess, her heart filled with emotion as she released the ward on her window. She couldn’t help herself but to reach out, to touch the faces of her friends with her own hands.

“Come on, Princess, don’t cry…” said Xana, her eyes tearing up too as Princess Camila held one of her cheeks. The warmth, the softness… even as her fingers trembled, the Princess knew this was no dream.

It was a long awaited reunion, which the Princess had yearned for as much as each of the Thorns. A cruel twist of fate had pulled them apart, but now that the Princess laid her soul bare in the eyes of Lady Faydan, the Goddess seemed to have smiled on them in her domain.