Nala didn't want to die without seeing Jasper again.

Regardless, that seemed her fate. If this desperate plan failed-and it seemed likely that it would, she would die without fixing their relationship, without mending the past.

"Should we tell Myra about Jasper?" Kestra asked. "I know he wanted to be the one to tell her, but..."

"Give this to her," Nala instructed, passing Kestra a folded note that she'd already penned an hour ago."Tell her to open it if all is lost, and not before."

"And if we survive...?"

"Then she gives it back to us and Jasper tells her as planned."

"What if she just opens it no matter what we say?"

"Then we yell at her and tell her to act surprised when Jasper tells her everything."

"Now?"

"I guess so," Nala shrugged, just happy to be alone again.

Her thoughts turned to Lysandra and her own note. She was slightly jealous of the princess for getting to say what she wanted to when Nala might never get a chance to confess everything.

Every moment you're in there is killing me. Why can't you have some mercy and either die or don't? The tension is eating away at me.

I wish I could see you again. I wish that we had more time. I wish that we had a chance to build a new Kallias together.

Oh, my brilliant, devious, wonderful Nala. You'll figure out something to get us out of this mess, won't you?

I need you to come back. If you die on me now, I'll kill you.

Nala stared at the dark and gloomy sky, a lump bubbling in her throat.

If she died now, she died with a hundred regrets and a thousand might-have-beens. I'm sorry Sandy. I'm sorry Jasper. I think I might have failed you.

————————————————

The army divided into a perfect half, each side sliding to the very edges of the mountain where-hopefully-the Kallians wouldn't knock into them as they passed. They all moved comically slowly in order to make the illusion easier for the twins to maintain.

"How's the illusion?" Nala asked. Naturally the rebels themselves couldn't see it otherwise they'd all have been knocking into another.

"Steady," Rhea forced out, beads of sweat already sliding down her face. She had caught the elf staring up at the sky they loved, as much as she loved wild and flickering flame. That look—that last, mournful look—had almost been enough for her to call it right then and there.

"Is everything ready?" Reyna asked.

Nala shot a glance over to the two halves of the moving army, carefully out of the way of the Kallians.

"Yes," she told them. "Are you sure they'll fall for the ruse?"

"Yes," Rhea answered. "We worked everything out last night, remember?" Of course Nala remembered. She was simply nervous from anticipating.

"Let's get ourselves out of the way too," she muttered and half-carried the twins across the field. They probably could have walked alone but their energy had to be saved at all costs.

"Now?" Rhea asked, a hint of fear colouring her eyes.

"If you don't want to do this—"

"No," she replied. "I will do it."

"Now," said Nala, releasing a deep breath and putting a gentle hand on Rhea's shoulder. Myra emerged from the army and put her hand on Reyna's.

"What's all this mystery with the note?"

"Only open it if—"

"I know," she snapped. "Only if I'm about to die." The Dragon turned to the twins. "Now."

They nodded, and an illusion flickered to life in Nala's vision.

The false army charged and clashed against the waiting Kallians. Men fell on both sides as the soldiers clashed.

"How do you do the Kallians?" Nala asked curiously.

"Still alive," Reyna explained. "We force them to play dead. Blood and everything are an illusion." Brilliant, Nala thought to herself. Creepy and ruthless, but brilliant.

She watched as the Kallians pushed the valkyries closer to the mountains and the mines.

"Not too quickly," Myra muttered softly. "Else they'll figure it out." The twins didn't have the energy to nod, but they tweaked the illusion carefully.

It lasted an hour, one false army and one real one struggling on the cold stone. Rhea and Reyna were artists. Every detail was attended to. The valkyrie army pushed back and gained ground in sudden, swift strikes then collapsed back onto itself. Rallying cries from a false Myra bore her very voice, carefully constructed from the twins' memory. All so realistic that even Nala sometimes grew panicked at the way their army fell back. She wouldn't have been able to tell the truth from the illusion if she hadn't worked on the plan long into the night.

It was an hour and a half in before they deemed it was ready. Rhea and Reyna struggled under the weight of the illusion and crumpled a little with relief when Myra at last nodded to them.

"Let the Kallians kill me," she declared. "Do it believably, too. They know my abilities."

Nala watched and was half-terrified for Myra as the illusion of the Dragon began to slowly tire. A gash appeared on her leg and the real Myra shook her head.

"Not believable enough," she said, shaking her head. "Slow it down."

The illusion Myra continued to battle against the Kallians, unfaltering. Rhea waited until a particularly talented Kallian came along and Nala drew in a sharp breath in recognition.

"Hadlow," she said quickly. "Governor of Miras."

"We'll see about that," Myra muttered to herself. "Alright, then. Him."

Yet again, Rhea barely had the energy to nod.

The false Myra set upon Hadlow like a storm, switching rapidly between beast and person a perfect replica of the Dragon's fighting style. Hadlow often hid behind the Kallian soldiers but always returned to cross blades with her at some point or the other. Myra received a couple of other injuries, minor and not enough to hobble her. Rhea left open his chance as a soldier managed to slice a wound on her arm and Hadlow struck like a demon, impaling the false Myra Isidore.

Even from this far away and with the real Myra standing right next to her, Nala shivered.

"I killed him," she said suddenly, the memory finally dawning on her. "Back on the Isthmus five years ago."

"Clearly you didn't kill him well enough," Nala grumbled.

After 'Myra's' death the valkyries fell apart. In a series of quick Kallian pushes they were slammed almost to the mountains and Nala at last nodded to the twins.

The illusion valkyries broke ranks, rushing deep into the mines. Illusions of the valkyrie miners rescued upon the first assault of the mines dashed in with them and the Kallians pursued. The entrance to the mines was wide, wide enough to let twenty of them in at a time and they rushed in, pursuing the valkyries under Hadlow's command. Clearly, they believed that the rebels knew a way out and that there might be an exit somewhere in the mines. It didn't matter, not really. So long as they escaped.

Hadlow and a unit of soldiers stayed back, maybe five hundred in total. Nala breathed a sigh of relief. That was nothing. They could handle them.

Once the army had filtered in, flooding the mines Nala gave the signal to the waiting Tarua Teris bombers. They moved in unison to activate the system controlling the explosives at the entrance.

It was a beautiful sight, really. The rocky slope of the mountain crumpled and thundered to the ground as an explosive bang rang out. A blinding flash of light consumed the world and when at last she dared to open her eyes stone covered up the entrance to the mines, trapping thousands of the Kallians inside with an illusion army.

The head of Myra Isidore so proudly paraded by the governor turned to nothing in his hand as five hundred rebels stared from both sides of the mountain at the failed general.

Hadlow and the soldiers fled through the burnt forest and next to Nala,

Rhea and Reyna fell to their knees.

Myra rushed to their fallen bodies and checked their heartbeats frantically.

Nala already knew what she would find: a deep, echoing silence that had brought five hundred warriors a chance of escape and three kingdoms one last hope to escape the Empress.