The dirt surrounded her. It held her arms and legs in place, making sure she couldn't move a muscle. The earth controlled her; it was what made her chest move and it filled her lungs with its senselessness.

Then she saw a weakness in the dirt - a barely noticeable hole. She could see only the light, and so she fought against herself, the earth. She swam through it as the rocks became sand and the sand was blown away by the wind. There was only her and the light.

And finally, she could breath again.

Aelia slowly opened her eyes. The sun shining in from the window was too bright, and she had to squint against it.

It took her several minutes to adjust to the chaos around her. People were yelling instructions, and out of the very edge of her sight she could see them running back and forth.

She tried turning her head, but she couldn't. She couldn't make the air around her blow - which would get rid of the horrible stench - and she couldn't move any part of her body. It was as if someone had stolen all of her energy, leaving her only enough to stare at the stone ceiling above.

"Hey, hey! Can I have a healer over here, she just woke up!" someone familiar yelled, but she couldn't remember their name.

Aelia moved her gaze to where the person stood next to her. His hair was fire, his pale skin was covered burns from the flames dancing in the air.

She could not remember who he was. She could barely remember who she was.

Another familiar face appeared next to her. His eyes were tired, but not only from a lack of sleep. The good inside of him could only hold him together so long.

"Aelia, can you hear me?" the tired boy asked.

She blinked in response.

"Here, I need you to drink this," he said. He grabbed an ivory-white bowl from nearby and held it to her mouth. The syrup inside was thick and sweet. When she drank it, it seemed to bring warmth and feeling back into every part of her.

"Can you move?"

Aelia nodded, although it was only a slight movement. She lifted her leaden arms and tried to push herself upright. Only, when she tried to use her legs to help, they would not move.

She couldn't feel her right leg.

"I cannot feel my leg," Aelia said. Her voice was hoarse and cracked, although when she said it she said it as a fact. There was no panic.

The tired boy made a face, but before he could say anything someone yelled his name.

"Eiridan, we need you over here!"

Without another word to her, Eiridan rushed over to another person in the mayhem, leaving Aelia with the fire soldier.

She had managed to sit up against the wall, and could see the room that they were all in.

It was long and narrow, with makeshift beds lining the walls. Each had a person in them, while others gathered around. People wearing blood-stained white clothes ran between the beds, bandaging wounds and giving medicines.

"Hey," said the fire soldier. She still couldn't remember his name, although bits of memories were coming back.

"Hello," Aelia said. As she remembered who she was, where she was, and why, questions began to fill her mind. There were so many things to ask that she found it better not to say anything.

"So, you can't feel your leg?" He seemed awkward, she didn't remember him being awkward. Normally, the soldier would ramble on when she didn't respond. Now, he was just watching her as if she could disappear any second.

"What's your name?" she asked.

He smiled, a familiar, lazy smile. "I know we just met, but I'd hoped you would remember me. I mean, I have been waiting besides your bed for the past day or two."

The past day or two. She had been unconscious for too long, and he had been with her.

Aelia smiled back, but it was forced. Her cheek muscles tried to fight against it, telling her that now was not the time to be happy. Now was the time to mourn. "Did you get your sword back?"

"My name's Coal, and no. Everyone thinks it's yours, and I tried asking for it, but they just think I'm trying to steal it or something." Coal shrugged. "It's okay, though. Are you okay?"

"Well, I can't exactly move my leg and I can barely remember anything. I've been better."

Coal sat down on the bed next to her's, and considering it was empty she assumed it was his.

"Your healer friend didn't think you would survive. He said you used up so much of your energy that your heart shouldn't have beat, and you weren't breathing - you shouldn't have lived. He said he would be amazed if the shock from it all didn't paralyze you. We're under siege now, Komesen is. Vaxon's rebels have completely surrounded the outer gate."

"He's dead?"

Coal nodded. "Your sword pierced his heart. Bled out right next to you and the shadow girl."

"Are you okay?" she asked him. Aelia just noticed his arm was in a sling, wrapped up in heavy bandages.

"I've been better, too. Some poisoned sword caught my arm, that's all."

Aelia grinned. "So it wasn't exactly like you had anywhere better to be than here."

"Actually, I had a pretty bad fever for a day. Couldn't get out of bed. So not exactly. But, I mean, it's the thought that counts. I was technically here."

"I'm pretty sure that with your fever, your thoughts don't count."

Coal laughed, a vain attempt to sound happy, as Eiridan walked back over.

"You feeling better?" he asked Aelia.

She nodded. Whatever the syrup was that he gave her, it had given her energy immediately.

"Still can't feel your legs?"

"The left one moves, the right doesn't."

Eiridan made another face; he seemed to be doing that very often. "I thought that might happen. My guess is you used so much energy fighting Vaxon that your heart had to completely stop sending energy to some of your limbs. I was hoping now that you were getting better blood flow would start again, but I guess not. You should be completely healed sometime, though."

Someone else yelled for Eiridan and he looked over to them and sighed. "The hospital has been very busy lately. Battles break out randomly inside and outside the gate, soldiers get injured, and I've got to fix them. There should be an empty room somewhere for you, just ask Eriswen or Kyren or someone. You and your, er, friend can leave anytime you want."

The person yelled again - it sounded urgent.

"I gotta go," he said.

Before he could walk away, Aelia said, "Eiridan, I'm sorry. It wasn't me."

He looked at her and pain flashed in his eyes. He knew what she meant.

Memories of the fight with Vaxon came back, and Aelia had to close her eyes for a moment.

Jaeyria dead on the floor. Ionean's child.

Her cousin.

She vaguely felt Coal touch her arm, but she was lost in her own thoughts.

He whispered, "You want to go to your room? You probably need some rest, I can go find some crutches or something to help."

"That would be great."

Aelia didn't have to open her eyes to know that Coal had left.

She laid on the bed. She couldn't think of it all, not now. Not surrounded by people.

It was too much.

Instead, she focused on blowing a little bit of wind around the room. It smelled horrible, with all of the bodies around her. Some were dying, others could survive. The least she could do was give them breathable air.

She focused on the wind until it was all that she was, nothing more than a breeze.

"Hey, found some." Aelia opened her eyes and saw Coal standing with two wooden crutches. She tried to swing her legs around the bed to stand up, but then remembered that she couldn't move one of them. "Here, I'll help."

He grabbed her legs and moved them to the side of the bed for her. She smiled thankfully.

This was going to be difficult.

---

It didn't take long for them to find someone that could tell her where her room was. A servant girl pointed it out when they asked, saying that all of her possessions were already there.

Her 'possessions' ended up only being Coal's sword and a clean pair of clothes, a servant's pants and white shirt. They sat neatly upon the bed in the spacious room.

It had probably been a guest room for nobles, back when nobles enjoyed visiting and before Vaxon became king.

"Where are you going to stay?" she asked Coal.

"I'm still a soldier. I have to go back to my commander, tell him I'm healed, so I'll probably end up back in the barracks or somewhere else pleasant like that."

"Oh."

Aelia almost forgot he was still a soldier. He would undoubtedly leave her soon.

She cursed herself for growing attached to him.

"Do you want to take a bath and change or something?"

Aelia took a deep breath. "I think I want to just go back to bed."

The numbness of sleep was better than forcing herself to confront her problems. It wouldn't fix anything, but it didn't hurt.

Coal seemed to read her mind. "You can't just sleep away your problems, just like I can't drink them away. One day we're going to have to deal with them."

"I know," she whispered.

"I'll draw the bath for you, sit down. You're looking pale."

Aelia smiled at him. "I always look pale. It's just my skin."

She took a seat on one of the plush chairs around the room and listened to water begin to run.

It was odd suddenly having somebody care for her, because she had been on her own for so long. Aelia wasn't sure if she liked it.

"It's not warm, but considering we're under siege I hope you won't be too picky," he said, walking back into the room. "I guess I'll make myself useful somewhere else for an hour."

Coal was gone.

Aelia laid in the bath for more than an hour. She didn't think about anything. All she did was enjoy the fact that she had a bath, the first that she had had in ten years. She had her first room that she had had in ten years, and today was the first day that she didn't have to worry about Vaxon killing her or her friends.

Yet it still felt wrong, so wrong.

So instead of thinking about it, she cleaned all of the dirt and blood off of her. Aelia tried to brush through her hair, until she realized that the knots in her hair were too matted to be brushed.

She changed into the clean clothes that were on the bed, which was a difficult task when she couldn't stand without her crutches. Then, Aelia found the sharpest object in her room - a piece of a shattered mirror in a drawer - and cut all the knots out of her hair.

Her hair went from reaching her hips to barely scraping her shoulders, and, oddly enough, it felt like a weight had been lifted from her.

A knock rang through her room, and Aelia limped over to let Coal in.

"How is the rest of the castle?" she asked him, hopping back over to the chair. Her crippled leg wasn't hurting, but the other one was already starting to feel sore.

"Good, a servant girl told me to tell you that the Magi council was having a meeting tomorrow, and if you were feeling better that they wanted you to come. I like your hair, by the way."

Aelia absentmindedly reached to run her fingers through her hair, but she had already forgotten how much shorter it was.

"Thank you."

Coal fell down onto her bed and rolled over so that his injured arm laid on his stomach.

"I talked to my commander. He said that our entire unit is relatively injured, so we're going to be guards in the castle until there are any new orders. There's a lot of battles around the perimeter of the city, apparently, but we're not going to be fighting in any soon. Anyways, I thought this was pretty good news," he said. He seemed to speak without breathing, and Aelia wasn't sure how he could talk so fast without losing his train of thought.

They sat in silence for several moments, before Aelia asked, "Why do you always come back?"

"What?"

"Back at camp, you were always there. You taught me to sword fight even after I told you I killed your brother. And, getting a bed at the infirmary next to mine couldn't have been too easy, not with so many injured people. Now, you came back. I was just wondering why."

Coal was quiet for several seconds as he stared at the ceiling. Aelia looked up at it. Unlike the stone lining the walls, the ceiling was chiseled down so that it was completely smooth. Engravings lined the outside of it - a pattern of swirls and runes that wove together.

"I don't exactly know. Maybe it's some sort of responsibility I feel, or I'm lonely, or it's just that you're the only person I can actually talk to. I can't seem to leave you, though, can I?"

"I guess not. Did you know I had a cousin?"

She didn't have to look at him to know he was grinning when he said, "You're unusually random. But, no, I didn't know that."

Aelia explained everything that Vaxon had told her, which wasn't much but she had to stop occasionally to try and get rid of the image of her cousin, Dulsk, lying dead on the floor.

Coal didn't say anything, and she was slightly worried. He hadn't been so quiet before the siege of the castle, now silence seemed to loom over them.

When he did decide to say something, it was a simple, "I'm sorry."

Aelia stared at the beautiful engraving on the ceiling and thought about her cousin, her father, her aunt. The family she hadn't known she had. Each was dead because of her.

She apologized to each. Her cousin, who Vaxon said had a promising acting career. Her father, who only wanted to make others smile during difficult times. His sister, who she didn't even know.

It was easier to think about them all knowing that someone else had heard their stories, so the burden wasn't only her's. However, just because it was easier didn't mean that it wasn't killing her on the inside.

It started off as a single tear rolling down her face, and it was only because Aelia couldn't hold it in any longer. She tried to - she tried so hard - because she had been living on the false belief that if she didn't show any emotions they wouldn't be there.

It was only a matter of minutes before she was sobbing on the floor, with her numb leg crumbled beneath her and her face in her hands.

Aelia didn't hear Coal walk over to her, but she noticed when someone had suddenly enveloped her in a hug. She could feel her tears as they soaked into his shirt, but he didn't let go.

She let out the ten years of tears she had been holding in, for everything from the soldiers destroying her family and their theater to Dulsk, the boy who she let die. She thought about how Kyren's family was dead, and how she had killed Coal's brother.

Aelia remembered everything that had been haunting her, and she let her heart break for it all.

After ten minutes, she felt Coal leave and heard the soft sound of the door closing. He came back ten minutes later, after she had slightly composed herself and was sitting cross legged on the floor.

Coal was holding a tray and set it down on the table next to her.

"It's some water, tea, and a couple of biscuits," he said after she stared at it for several seconds. "I thought you would want something so you didn't get a headache after that. And biscuits because you are probably hungry. I'm hungry, if you're not."

"You're too good." Aelia said, and picked up a biscuit.

---

Kyren wouldn't stop tapping his foot on the floor. Aelia tried so hard to listen to him and the other Magi as they spoke, but she found herself unable to focus on anything besides the noise.

"More and more attacks are happening inside the city..."

Tap, tap.

"... third battle lost this week..."

Tap, tap, tap.

"Rebellions throughout the streets..."

Tap, tap.

"Aelia, what do you think about this? We haven't heard from you all day," said Leo from beside her.

She looked up to see almost everyone looking at her and paused for a moment.

"I agree with Kyren," she said.

Several of the Magi rolled her eyes as if saying, She always says that, can't she think for herself? Others nodded, looking pleased that she wasn't starting a new argument, which had become very popular among them.

Eiridan said, "You believe that the guards in the castle should be increased? We really need more men out in the battlefield, we can defend ourselves."

"Yes, I do." Aelia looked towards Kyren for help, but he just shrugged.

You should have been paying attention.

Everyone was still watching, apparently they were all thinking along the same lines. She wasn't important on the council - she was only the crippled air mage - and they would vote her off of it without hesitation.

Aelia continued, thinking out each word that she said. "We might be able to defend ourselves, although the people cannot. Komesen is now looking for us for protection, and we are responsible for them."

Kyren nodded, mildly impressed at her ability to make things up.

"She makes a good point," said Eriswen. "Crime has only been increasing, and more and more traitorous guards have been attacking citizens. Someone has to protect them, if we don't they'll see us no better than Vaxon."

Jaxon nodded, but several other Magi were looking irritated. They had been divided ever since the council began a week ago, because once their common cause of killing Vaxon had disappeared they couldn't agree on anything. "The battles to the east have been scarce, and I would dare to say that we could be able to take a unit from there and move them to the castle."

Kyren was tapping his foot again. It was faster now - it always was when he got more nervous. That was one of the only things that Aelia noticed for the next hour of the meeting, how the tapping sped up and slowed down along with the conversation. At one point, it stopped completely, but not for long.

"All in favor of bringing a unit from the eastern line to the castle, raise your hand."

Seven raised their hands, including Aelia, and that was the majority.

"Alright," said Kyren, "I will send a messenger to the unit to inform them."

---

"This meat pie is a little dry," remarked Coal. He kept poking at the lump of brown on his plate, although he hadn't taken a bite in several minutes.

"You're right. We should ask the servant girls to make us something more delectable with the abundance of food we have," joked Aelia.

Coal smiled and ate a piece of the pie that wasn't as hard as a rock. "You would think that since we're under siege and all we could be able to get something a little better."

Aelia had already finished her meat pie and set the dish on the floor so she could lay her head on the table.

"Another long day?" he asked.

Coal had been coming up almost every day to eat dinner with her, although sometimes he had a night shift and couldn't make it.

"I think that's exactly it. Everything is so serious that it has begun to become rather melancholy. Guard attacks are increasing, there are more people accused of being rebels every day. Supplies have been completely cut off and we are already running out of food. Murders are happening throughout the streets simply because we can't control the people. But, nothing much has really changed. We're not winning or losing."

She was sure that that was the most she had said to him at once ever since she had broke down almost two weeks ago, and Coal seemed mildly surprised.

"Well, you just have to fix these things, y'know? Find out why nothing's happening and stop it."

Aelia rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the advice. I would have never thought of that."

"Anyways, isn't Vassti's second trial tomorrow? I hate to sound so sadistic, but somethin' interesting has to happen then."

"You're right, I did miss the first one. I have yet to see her this entire time, since she and her girl have been in the dungeons this entire time," said Aelia.

The area of the castle where her room was was fairly quiet compared to the rest of it. The hallway next to the servants quarters was always bustling with activity, along with all of the entrances of the castle. However, Aelia's room was high up and always quiet. Occasionally a servant girl would come up and bring food or clean linens, or even news, but it was rare.

She knew Coal liked the quiet, compared to the crowded barracks he had to sleep in. He didn't talk much about being in the castle, although, even without Vaxon, she couldn't imagine that being back brought many good memories.

Aelia had requested him to be her personal guard just so he didn't have to be alone in all of the familiar places.

Coal took a long sip of his drink. He had been trying to stop, just as Aelia had been trying to face her problems, but still he never failed to find a pint of beer when he wanted one.

"You okay? You've been acting weird today," she asked.

He shrugged and continued to poke at the meat pie. "I'm fine."

Aelia frowned. "That's not a very convincing 'I'm fine.' Tell me what's wrong."

Coal finally stopped, setting down his fork and taking another long drink. "It's dumb, really."

"Coal..."

"Fine, whatever. It's my birthday, if you must know. I don't really 'ave a lot of good memories with it, and I've been trying to forget, but it's real hard."

Aelia stared at her drink - river water that had been boiled but still tasted like dirt - and Coal laughed, "See, I told you it was dumb. I jus' sound like some w-"

"I think you just need a good fruit pie."

"What- a fruit pie?"

She smiled at him. It was a light smile, one from back when she was young. "My parents used to bake me a fruit pie on my birthday. Strawberries, blueberries, oranges, purple-berries, all types of fruit. All in a pie crust."

Coal raised his eyebrow, but he couldn't keep a grin off of his face. "How do you suppose we find all those fruits when we can barely find an edible meat pie?"

"I'm sure we could."

---

The servant looked between Coal's face and Aelia, the soldier's bright blue eyes and the mage's grey eyes. He was young, perhaps only Leo's age, and he wouldn't stop wringing the towel in his hands.

"I-I'm under strict orders not to be givin' any extra food away. Kyren, he-he told me we can't spare nothing. We've gotta be savin' good food, just in case the, er, rebels-"

"Hey, it's okay. It's my birthday. And, you see her? She's good friends with Kyren, and he says it's okay," explained Coal.

Aelia looked at him as if to say, He did? But she said nothing.

"Well," the servant paused. He looked at her again, and, as if she had to show she was a Magi, Aelia swirled the air around her ankles a little. "Only a couple of blueberries?"

"And strawberries, if you have them."

The servant bit his lip, but he didn't say anything else before walking into the kitchen. Several minutes later, he returned with a small box of berries.

"I'm gunna to be in so much trouble.. They're gunna find out and they're gunna yell at me," he mumbled.

Coal took the berries and gave the boy a coin. "I'll make sure nobody finds out."

The servant ran back into the kitchen as soon as she grabbed the coin; he was more than happy to get away from the two of them.

Aelia smiled blissfully as she looked through the box, which had five or six different berries. She had completely forgotten about her family's little tradition, and just thinking about her mom's berry pies made her smile.

"Where should we enjoy our gorgeous berry pie?" asked Coal, who aimlessly turned down another hall.

Aelia limped after him, her crutches thumping on the floor. "Somewhere new and peaceful."

"Hm, well how 'bout the roof?"

"If I can get up there."

With a great deal of effort and countless amounts of stairs, they ended up finding a small trapdoor at the top of a tower that led onto the roof. The sky wasn't completely clear, because clouds continued to cover up stars at random, but it didn't make the view less breathtaking.

The buildings of Komesen was as far as she could see. Some windows were lit up, casting a pleasant glow on the streets, while others were black. Aelia looked out at it and couldn't help but be amazed at how incredible it was to think that each house had its own people that lived it in, and each person had a different story.

"I've never been up here," whispered Coal, careful to keep the placid atmosphere.

They didn't talk for the first half hour, only looked out at the skyline of the city and ate the berries, but after a little Aelia laid down and started to talk.

She pointed to several stars. "That one is called dreki, or dragon. And you see those little stars? Those are it's treasure that the dreki guards."

Coal laid down next to her so that their elbows touched. "I don't see anything."

"Don't you see?" Aelia drew the dragon in the air, connecting the stars until they formed a picture. "Dragon."

"Well, they're very nice stars, but they're not shaped like this dracke."

She tried pointing out other constellations in the sky, but he couldn't see any of them.

"How're those three stars a sword? It's a line, a' awkward one but a line."

"No, see that one." Aelia pointed at a star. "And that one." She pointed at another. "Make the blade, and that one." She pointed to the one at the bottom. "Is the handle."

Coal stared at the sky for several moments before shaking his head. "It's a line."

Aelia laughed, "Fine! Whatever you say."

"Say, how'd you learn all these anyways? You just making them up?"

"Well, when you're outside every night for ten years, you tend to get pretty creative. The only thing left was the stars, so I memorized all their patterns. Then, they were so thankful they started showing me the pictures they hid."

Aelia thought she saw Coal looking at her out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned he was more focused on the stars than ever.

"I want to see the pictures you see," he said.

---

The first change in the throne room was Vaxon's white throne. Even before scrubbing the blood off of the floor, they had destroyed it.

It was very symbolic, Aelia had heard, as if Vaxon's reign ended when they got rid of his throne. Although, it had never truly ended. Vaxon seemed to be looming around every corner, making sure that nobody would ever forget his rule.

His guards that had remained at the castle had been questioned immediately after the Magi took over the castle. Most were still loyal to Vaxon, although others claimed that they had been controlled by him against their will to do what he wanted. However, after the first person said that, more and more guards pleaded that they didn't truly want to work for him.

Not all of them could be telling the truth, but they couldn't condemn them all just because of the lies of several.

Now, it was Vassti's second trial. Her first had taken place before Aelia had woken up, but she had heard that the trial had been so elusive and nobody was sure what Vassti said was true or not.

She sat chained to a chair in front of the Magi, who were lined up along the wall in their own individual chairs. None of their chairs were elaborate, because they didn't want to appear as if they were above the common people.

There were at least twenty guards at the doors and along the walls. With some disappointment, Aelia noticed that Coal was not among them.

"Vassti Asherex, plead your case," announced Kyren. His voice was strong and clear, one of a leader. One that people wanted to listen to.

Vassti raised her chin. After weeks of being in the dungeon, she still looked like a queen, so she made sure to have the air of one.

"I cannot say that I am completely innocent, because to say so would be a lie. I plead guilty, however it is my belief that I would be far more valuable to you alive than dead. I did help Vaxon through my own will, although I did not agree with everything he said or did. He was a horrible person, but, as his wife, I was supposed to be faithful to him."

Vassti had been talking for less than a minute, and Aelia was already unsure about how she felt towards her. She understood the Magi when they said Vassti was ambiguous.

"Why do you think you are more valuable alive? Why should we not have you be put to death, if you are as guilty as you say?"

"I know you are having trouble with Komesen under siege. I can help. I can see into the minds of your guards, and tell you that not all of them are innocent. A number much greater than you expect is still loyal to Vaxon."

"You cannot be any more truthful than them," said Eiridan.

"I can, you simply have to trust me. I will be able to show you the spies, the guards that are sharing your plans to the rebels. I can tell you who tells the truth, who is planning an attack inside the castle, and I can tell you who plans on protecting you if there is one. Kyren, I may have done horrible things before, but -"

"Send her away," Kyren interrupted. He stared directly at Vassti's eyes as if he could see into her mind.

"Maybe we should let her speak," said Leo.

"We have heard enough. Guards, bring her to the dungeon."

"Kyren, you're being unreasonable," said Lilija. "We have barely even heard what she has to say!"

The guards had already unchained Vassti from her chair and rebound her hands behind her back. Her face was placid, one of a queen. She refused to break eye contact with Kyren, until eventually she was escorted out of the room.

"Do you not see what she is trying to do? She is filling our heads with lies, and she is trying to tear apart our government before we can create it. Vassti simply wants us not to trust each other, she doesn't truly know if so many guards are spies," argued Kyren.

"I think this is personal," said Eriswen. "You don't want to listen to her because she's your mother, and she mistreated you all your life. Kyren, your feelings are no reason that we shouldn't listen to her. We have to be fair."

"Kyren has a point," said Aelia. Everyone turned towards her, she didn't often speak without being spoken to. Several had mild looks of disgust, showing how they disapproved of her agreeing with Kyren on everything.

"Why would you say that?" sneered Telex.

"We cannot trust her. She did not come to help us against Vaxon, we found her trying to escape the castle. She has no reason to help us, we are against everything that she stood for all of her life. However, Vassti has every reason to lie to us. If we listen to her so blindly, don't we have the possibility of executing someone that is innocent?"

Nobody said anything for several seconds, and Aelia had to take deep breaths to keep her face from growing red. She didn't exactly care what the other Magi thought of her - before this all they barely knew of her existence - but that didn't mean that she enjoyed it.

"We can discuss this in tomorrow's meeting. You are dismissed," said Kyren.

There was mild grumbling, but they all got up and left. Aelia lingered near her seat, struggling to stand with her crutches.

"Kyren, can I talk to you?" she asked before he could leave the door.

He turned around, and walked back over. "Sure, what is it?"

"Er, could all of you guys leave?" Aelia looked over at the guards that still lined the walls.

One bowed his head, and they all proceeded to leave the room.

"Well, what's so important that you had to get all of the guards to leave?"

"I believe I have a solution to the problem of the guards." Kyren raised his eyebrows to tell her to continue, so she did. "Even if they don't have spies - although they probably do - that doesn't mean weshouldn't. I would like to be the leader of the spies."

Aelia had thought of the idea as she laid on the roof with Coal, surrounded by shadows. Somehow, it had simply come to her.

"Okay," said Kyren, after several minutes of waiting.

"Okay?"

"Okay, gather the closest soldiers that you are sure you can trust. You can be the leader of the spies. I would like frequent updates on the rebel's plans. Don't write them in letters, though. Make sure nobody knows. Nobody inside this castle can know except for you, me, and the spies themselves, not with the possibility that there are people here helping the rebels. Alright?"

Aelia nodded.

"I can't believe I'm going to trust you with this," Kyren said, before walking away.

---

"You have complete and absolute faith in each one of these soldiers?" asked Aelia, her voice no louder than a whisper.

Coal nodded. "I would trust them with my life."

"Alright." She took a deep breath before walking into the small room hidden in the maze of hallways.

Inside stood nine soldiers. None of them had been told exactly why they were there, only that it was to be completely secret.

"Hello," she said. They all stared at her blankly as if she were their commander, and that made Aelia very uncomfortable.

"Before I say anything else, I would like to say that if any of you feel uncomfortable leaving Komesen and being at a constant risk of execution at any moment, please leave now."

One man hesitated, but he walked past Coal and out of the room.

"Now, would any of you like to tell me exactly why he just left?"

One soldier, a tall woman with skin as dark as her brown hair, spoke, "He has family, here. A child and a wife that I'm sure he would not want to leave."

Aelia smiled at the soldier. "You are going to make an excellent spy."

She explained her plan, telling them all how she wished for them to become spies and infiltrate the rebel bases. One more man left, saying how he felt like he would be a poor spy, but one of the remaining soldiers said how they noticed his shaking hands and blamed it on fear.

Aelia was proud of Coal for finding such great spies.

"I want you all to do this not because you feel pressured to do it or that you have to, but because you truly believe in Castre and that we can have peace again. The only pure motivation is peace. Do you all understand this?"

They nodded.

Aelia continued. "Also, I want to make it very clear that if I find any of you are being dishonest towards me or towards each other, I will personally find you and show you what I think of people who are like that. At best, you will end up with a sword through your gut. Okay?"

She couldn't look very intimidating, considering she had to have crutches to keep herself upright, but she hoped that her voice would at least make them think twice before lying to her.

They nodded, again.

"Now, you all seem like very resourceful people. Getting the rebels to trust you will be no problem. Getting them to even let you into their base will be, so any ideas?"

After almost an hour of planning, they decided that the seven left would split into two groups. One would travel to the north and the other to the west, both were the places where the rebels were the strongest.

Each of the groups would have a similar story, one would say they were faithful to the rebels while the other would say they pretended to be loyal to the Magi. Both would say they escaped from the castle to join the rebel's cause.

Aelia taught them how to lie, how to make things up quickly, and, most importantly, how to spy. Years of travelling with the theater had made her very good at all of those things, even if she was never actually an actress.

When the seven newly-trained spies left to tell their commanders they would be leaving, she had complete faith in them.

For once Aelia could finally show that she wasn't useless, even if it had to be a secret.

---

Aelia absentmindedly drew attack strategies on the board. To the several guards in the room with her, it looked like she was simply wasting Kyren's time with the scribbles, while in reality she was telling him the rebel's plans.

Three weeks before, they had decided that the best way to communicate all of the information her spies collected was for her to tell him through telepathy. However, with Kyren's busy schedule, it was difficult to find a time where he would be able to listen to her.

Aelia had been the one to come up with the idea that once a week they would meet for half an hour to 'talk about battle strategies'. She would pretend to draw on a board, occasionally explaining them, while he pretended to watch.

So the rebels are moving troops to the east? Kyren asked.

Aelia nodded and connected two lines with her piece of chalk. Several of my spies in the west are being moved to the east gate. They noticed we have been taking troops from there and are planning an attack on the gate.

Kyren raised his eyebrows. You're completely sure about this? We would need to move at least five units to defend the castle in the east.

I trust my spies with my life.

"Looks good," Kyren said, aloud. "That's enough planning for the day, don't you think?"

Aelia nodded, and they left the room without another word to each other.

---

"I think I miss the meat pies we used to have," muttered Coal, who was trying to bite into a stale piece of bread.

The rations they given to eat were getting smaller and smaller the longer Komesen was under siege. Now, they had only two meals, each made up of bread that was harder than the stone floor and soup that was primarily water.

Aelia had to be grateful, though, because most of the people in Komesen were beginning to starve. They were becoming angry at the Magi, saying that they were no better than Vaxon. Perhaps, even worse.

"I only hope that we'll gain control of one of the gates again so we can get new supplies. Food isn't the only thing we are running out of, Eriswen says that he ran out of medical supplies a week ago. But I think the rebels are losing so many troops, we might be able to win our next battle at the east gate," Aelia said.

Coal looked up at her. "The east gate?" he asked. "I thought that we were taking troops from there, why would we win a battle?"

Aelia explained to him all that her spies had been telling her, and how Kyren had sent several units from the south gate there for defense.

All Coal said was, "Hm."

"You alright?"

"Yea. A little tired, a little hungry." He smiled a rather unconvincing smile. "I think I'm going to go get a drink."

---

"Wait, Kyren, could you repeat that?" asked Eiridan.

Kyren sighed, running his hands through his hair and looking more exhausted than usual. The rest of the Magi didn't look much better, because after being under siege for almost two months with little victory there was plenty of tension in the air.

"They knew we moved troops from the south gate and repositioned themselves. They attacked from the south, not the east. I don't know how they could have known. I thought our move was a complete secret." He sent a quick glare at Aelia when he finished.

"I told you we shouldn't have-" started Telex, but nobody wanted to start another argument so he was quickly silenced.

"I hate to ask this," said Leo, "But what were the results of the battle?"

"They broke through the gate. We managed to push them back before they could get far into the city, but we lost so many troops. The rebels are already collecting themselves again for a second strike, but I'm not sure how many units I can bring from other places as reinforcements."

"We have to take soldiers from inside the castle," said Aelia.

Everyone glared at her, yet again. None of her suggestions had turned out very well so far, and they were starting to get tired of them.

"I hate to say it, but she's right," agreed Eiridan. "We need to keep all of the rest of our troops at all of the other gates or else they will break in from there, so our only choice is to take some from the castle."

A couple of Magi murmured agreements, as if Aelia's idea was completely logical when Eiridan said it.

"Everyone in favor of it?" asked Kyren.

They all nodded.

"Alright, council dismissed."

The rest of the Magi began to walk out, and Aelia got up onto her crutches.

"Aelia, can I talk to you?" Kyren asked.

"Kyren-"

He was definitely very upset, and she could see the darkness inside of his eyes. She hadn't seen the darkness ever since Vaxon had been killed. His voice wasn't angry, though. It was simply tired. "I'm really not in the mood to hear about it. However, I do want to ask you several things. Guards, please leave."

The guards silently filed out of the room.

"Explain. How could they have known we were moving troops? The only people that knew were several of the Magi and the guards that were in the room."

Aelia shook her head, "I don't know. How do you know it wasn't one of the guards?"

Kyren sat down in his chair and stared up at the ceiling as if he couldn't bear to look at her. She took a deep breath and swirled the air around her to try and calm herself, but it didn't do anything to keep away the horrible feeling that was building up inside of her.

"Vassti told me."

"What?" Aelia exclaimed, perhaps a little bit too loud.

"I don't want to talk about it. She was telling the truth, though. I threatened that I would kill Nassia if she didn't tell the truth. And she said that none of the guards that had been in the room had any rebellious thoughts, none."

"My gods, Kyren, you didn't tell anybody else did you?"

He shook his head. "Now, I want to know how they knew we were moving troops, because do you know what that means? They know that we know that they were moving troops to the east, so they know we have spies. Aelia, what's the point of having spies if they know we have them? So, just tell me, you didn't tell anybody else, did you?"

Aelia felt a sudden, terrible feeling of cold sweep over her.

No, no it couldn't be.

"Aelia..."

She sat down on a chair several away from Kyren, who had a new look of horror across his face. She was suddenly feeling very faint, and the room seemed to have dropped several degrees.

"Who did you tell?" he whispered.

"I told Coal, my guard."

"Do you know what that means?"

Aelia was trying to keep back a sob.

No, no. He was wrong. Coal couldn't be a spy.

He couldn't be.