It was now February in the 38th year of King Baldwin’s reign. During the recent winter the tide of war had turned much in favor for Yteland.

One major aspect of this development was the desertion of most of the grand duchy’s otherworldly troops, the major part of which even openly changed side and fought for the Yteish whom they considered their benefactors. The cause of this was that Violant had interrogated surviving invaders from the other march just why they fought on the side of Grand Duke Svyatoslav the Great. The answer she got was appalling.

Prior to the declaration of war, the troops of the grand duchy had systematically invaded their local other march without considering the losses on both sides. The first otherworldly settlements coming in contact with the human army were burnt to the ground without mercy, just to set an example for all denizens of the other march. The second step was securing family members of the othermarchers who were forcibly recruited for war, as a security so to speak. Most of those who then resigned to their bloody fate feared nonetheless that after the war ends the hostages would be discarded of, being either outright killed or sold to slavery instead, and were expecting to face the same fate themselves. They had no choice but to obey if they wanted their loved ones to live even one day longer. The hostages who were kin of deserters or even fallen fighters regularly got publicly executed, much to the delight of the human spectators and much to the horror of the otherworldly troops.

Violant decided that this couldn’t go on any longer and sought the help of her royal backer, Queen Berengaria, or rather the queen’s network of spies. Those spies infiltrated the grand duchy and set the hostages free, at the same time instigating a coup d’état using Svyatoslav’s overly ambitious uncle Dobromysl as the figurehead. This had happened in December and the grand duke had to temporarily return to his country to quell the unrest and execute his traitorous uncle. He took about a third of his army back to do so. Only in January he had been able to return and continue his conquest of Yteland. By this time his remaining troops who had stayed in Yteland were significantly weakened though and most of the conquered territory was already in the hands of Yteland again.

The freed hostages got transferred to Yteland to allow their immediate reunion with their relatives who were forced to fight in Yteland. They were allowed to settle down in the duchess of Ealdon, such as to not upset the original balance of the Yteish other march any further. An additional influx of refugees from the grand ducal other march fearing repercussions led to the otherworldly realm of the grand duchy remaining bare of almost any intelligent life while Ealdon’s unofficial name “Little Avallach” was changed to “Second Avallach”. This didn’t happen without resistance from the human original inhabitants of Ealdon who were fearing for their income and livelihood, of course, but Violant and Wynkin managed to successfully deal with the situation without making light of the sorrows both sides had. Ealdon was bound to change much andalthough it surely would be hard, no one was going to be left behind without help.

Regarding the Mérovian front, the changes were not as drastic. The rule of the Mérovian king was solidified and there was no possible bud of unrest to speak of. Mérovie didn’t take any drastic measures to boost their war potential like the grand duchy had done, leaving them without any kind of obvious weak spot.

Nonetheless, the chief commander Duke Médard de Crêtou had to swallow a series of losses. There was some strategist on the side of Yteland whose strategies were so ingenious and unpredictable that the Mérovian army suffered defeats without end. Said strategist was none other but the troll Arinnefja. Her introduction to the staff of command happened sometime after the siege of Avallach which had been when Wynkin had witnessed her talent as strategist unfolding. Her deployment to the command center didn’t happen until after Violant’s marriage though.

Arinnefja and her wolf Hrimnir had been among those following the newlywed girl to her new home, as were Huwcyn and Hraban, which came as no surprise. Hraban still served as connection to the wild hunt who still remained as the young duchess’s vassals for time to come.

Violant’s three servants Abigail, Millicent, and Malford also followed her, leading to the latter two retiring from service in Avallach after centuries. For the first time in forever it was possible for denizens of the other march to work in Yteland anywhere other than Avallach thanks to Ealdon’s recent acceptance of their kind. The three had chosen their future place of employment out of free will, for their mistress had left the choice to them in case they didn’t want to leave Avallach.

The hoary healer Alarun also moved to Ealdon – much to the dismay of Doctor Wace and his assistant Ottiwell. The schrat had decided to preferably stay close to her dear friends Violant and Wynkin, in particular as the latter still was in further need of her medicine as both his puberty and berserk transformation were still not over yet. The ingredients of the remedy were not hard to procure after all, and she thought it wiser to be close to her patient.

The most surprising addition to Violant’s retinue was her magic tutor Eibhlin, although the elf didn’t have any more knowledge and techniques to teach her pupil. The reason the beauty gave was that Ealdon was a beautiful place and it would surely be interesting to live there now that it was changing rapidly. Her mount Cuillennain, who was still unchangingly in love with the elf, accompanied her, of course.

Dwarven smith Hanarr remained in Avallach, both loyal to Orderic and unwilling to leave his beloved smithy. He told Violant that she would always be welcome to place orders with him though.

Returning to the war with Mérovie, it was shortly after Arinnefja’s arrival in Ealdon that Wynkin took her to the capital, recommending using her as strategist. There were many reservations against an othermarcher, what’s more a troll in the center of command. The duke of Ealdon persuaded the sceptics to let Arinnefja’s abilities speak for themselves in actual battle. This magnificently won battle was but the start for a series of continuous wins for Yteland. Soon nobody doubted the troll’s skill any longer and accepted her as one of Yteland’s best strategists. Her appearance didn’t matter any longer. At least not much.

Following their continuous losses, both Mérovie and the grand duchy had decided to unite the remnants of their troops and to risk a last big battle. The location was a large plain in South-Central Yteland that had remained free of snow for all of winter. Both sides had gathered their troops for what was commonly considered the battle of fate in this war. Its outcome would likely decide triumph and defeat for all participants.

In the Yteish camp there stood an enormous commando tent big enough to make believe that King Baldwin himself was present. That wasn’t the case though. The dimensions of this tent were chosen only so that Wynkin would be able to stand inside comfortably without the need to hunch down. In the last four months the duke of Ealdon had had yet another growth spurt so that he now towered two full heads above an average male. Violant, on contrast, nowadays covered her hair with the white veil of a married woman. Some naughty strand of fire-red hair still rebelled against being covered with cloth and peeked outside nonetheless. Both spouses were commanders-in-chief of the Yteish army in acknowledgement of their countless military contributions. The current silence fraught with tension was but the quiet before the storm. Both were aware of this.

At the moment the couple still waited for reconnaissance. The scout they had sent out to spy on the enemy camp had yet to return.

“I am back.” a tiny voice declared.

After she had made certain that there were no prying eyes, the tiny fairy Dryp let go of her invisibility.

“And? How is the situation?” Violant asked curiously.

“Both Mérovie and the grand duchy are hell-bent on winning this battle.” the fairy replied “But there is a considerable tension on both sides. The Mérovians accuse the grand ducal people of being responsible for their current less than favorable situation and vice versa. There are no troops from the other march to be found among them but that was to be expected. Regarding the troop sizes, I would say that we are about equal. What’s more, both the Mérovian and the grand ducal army seem to have lost the majority of their war mages. Therefore I believe our side to be at an advantage.”

“That’s all thanks to Nefja.” the red-haired girl commented “Her strategies were meant to annihilate the enemy’s war mages in the first place. Not that any side ever had many of them to begin with.”

“You being one of them, isn’t it so?” Wynkin nodded to show his consent before saying: “I believe we should now sound the signal. We don’t have much to lose, not with Arinnefja’s newest inventions on our side. Let’s get this over with and have some private time afterwards.”

Violant couldn’t help but blush heavily when she heard about her husband’s ulterior motive for winning this battle but agreed that this was a moment as good as any other to start it. It was time to end this war already.