The next morning, Victor awoke with a fire burning within. Yesterday’s pleasantries were still fresh on the mind, and thus made excellent fuel. He couldn’t stop thinking else like this, not as he took to waking the others, not as he had his breakfast, not as he was fitted out for today’s march.

He had never looked at anyone else like this before. That feeling of trust, respect, the sense that his presence was respected… Even after his constant blunders? Was he not to be hounded away at the tip of a blade, shunned and cast out to the winter winds for as long as he could draw breath? It made him feel terrible within. Celesta gave him care which others were far more deserving of. Alas, Victor liked this treatment too much to admit it was wrong for him to receive it.

From the view of a window, Victor observed as another winter day began. Snow descended from the heavens at a rapid tempo, burying whatever traces of human activity outside remained from last night. The remnants of the fireplace were buried under a white crust, much as the buildings and paths of the village were. Victor sighed.

Looks like we’re having another day in the cold… argh. Have the soldiers not suffered enough already? I mean sure, they took me along, but that doesn’t mean they have to keep hiking in this, right?

“You get a good look outside, Red?”

Victor pulled his head away from the window. One of the new soldiers spoke to him in a tone all too familiar to him by now. It was as if the veterans had held a seminar for the new rookies to get them up to speed on the correct lingo.

“Looks like a whole bunch more snow, I’m afraid.”

The rookie spat at his own feet. “Great. Just what Lokahn needed, more snow.”

Victor groaned. “No way around it, I’m afraid. I doubt the leadership would be happy if we retreated this close to Whitestream.”

“You’ve got legs to stand on, kid,” the rookie said, annoyed. “With those lil’ shields of yours… can barely feel my fingers with gloves on, meanwhile you dragon lot shrug everything off. By the way, can you stop dropping your shields everywhere? Stepped on one of the blasted things yesterday. Ached the whole damn day.”

Victor scratched at the base of his talons. “My apologies.”

“Whatever.”

The rookie walked away without so much as a second glance. Victor kept an eye trained on him, should he come back. This didn’t happen, and he breathed out in relief, before turning tail from the window. There was other business to tend to.

* * *

After an hour of packing bags, it was time to get going. The snow hadn’t stopped, of course Man’s squabbles were like insects fighting tp the powers above. Despite the complaints, man had no choice but to move on. There was but a single village to go. As the final preparations were under way, Victor headed for William’s accommodation in the village’s main hall. The door was closed; the dragon breathed in.

“Come in,” a voice on the other side said, before Victor even had the chance to raise his talon, much less knock on the door. With the silence of a mouse, he opened the door, whose creaking betrayed his entry into the room. William was sitting on his bed, leaned over. His posture wasn’t the best, to put it mildly.

“I wanted to talk, Will.”

“About what, Vic?”

“Just the way things have been going, that’s all.”

Victor lowered himself onto his haunches by William’s side. The muscles in one of his cheeks suddenly twitched, as it hit him. I completely forgot what I was going to say, damn it. How am I going to explain my way out of this one…

“Let me guess, cold’s been getting to you?”

“Something like that, yes,” Victor said, before gulping.

“As do we all...” William kicked at the air. A child could have eclipsed his strength. “Sorry if I’m starting to sound like the rest of the lads we’ve got with us, I guess that’s just what happens when you’re stuck out in the woods for weeks with a bunch of drunkards from the hills, all the while getting harassed by foreigners every step of the way.”

Victor grumbled. “That’s one way to put it. You… you’re not feeling bad about the losses, are you?”

William sighed. “I am, sorry to say. It hurts. It hurts to bury people you’ve talked to less than an hour ago.”

“I get what you mean. Felt the same way when this whole mess got started.” Victor lowered his head. A soft wind brushed up against his feet out of nowhere; the red dragon snorted. Why is my nose so stuffy?

“Look on the bright side, at least you don’t have to worry about how people’ll see you because of your actions, Vic. How do you think the big lugs back in Westedge’ll look at me once they find out I’ve lost nineteen of my troops? For all I know, they’ll throw me up on the gallow.” William folded his arms over his chest. “Never wanted anything to do with this, yet here I am...”

“Well, erhm, it’s not like we are the only ones out there struggling. If this is how we’re faring, then I can’t imagine the others are doing much better,” Victor said. He tried to wrap a wing around William, hoping he’d feel a little better; alas, William shoved it away, which he ran through his tangled hairs afterwards.

“How can you be so sure of that? Have you seen the other captains before we set out? Because I sure have, and I can guarantee you that I don’t hold a candle to them, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Heck, one of them went as far as to doubt my assignment as a captain. I’m too young and too stupid to be one, he said, and I believe him wholeheartedly. He had to pick his jaw off the damn floor when Raghes told him that I was picked by his own two hands, as a matter of a fact.”

William shuffled on the bed, putting a little distance between him and a potential threat. “The only reason we haven’t all been killed yet is because of Celesta and Jim. They’d make far better Captains than I ever could.”

Victor’s tongue dug into a cheek. “I’m surprised too.” Raghes must’ve made a mistake. Jim’s headstrong enough to make it, easily, and Celesta’s had to pick up the pieces for William numerous times.

“Isn’t everyone surprised?”

“I don’t know what you two lads are speaking of, quite frankly.”

William raised an eyebrow. “Wait a- who is there?”

“Me, of course.”

A lavender foreleg suddenly stuck out from under the bed. William almost jumped out of his shoes and into the roof.

“AH! You were here the whole time?!”

Celesta laughed, as she crawled out from under the bed. “Hah. I thought it would be funny to see your reaction. I’m surprised Victor couldn’t smell me at all, though!”

“Because my nose is stuffy.” Victor snorted.

“Ah, I hate it when that happens. But don’t we all?” Celesta grinned. “Now then, I overheard some things just now. Both of you lads aren’t feeling the best about our performance so far, are we? I can guarantee you that we’re not performing any worse than the other groups out there. You can’t just give yourself all the blame, right?”

“But… but what about...” stammered William. Celesta bared her teeth in a smile, and wrapped a wing around Victor’s back, who felt awfully chilly in an instant as the membrane was lowered onto his own wings.

Eep! Why does she keep doing that?

“Hahah, don’t you worry, don’t you worry, little lad. They ought to learn something from you, I’d say! We’ve taken more people prisoner than anyone else. And there’s always something noble about showing mercy. I’m certain that with people like you, the whole world would be willing to rally behind us Draconists. All for a better world.”

William scratched his head; a little snow fell onto the floor by his feet. “Well, erhm, alright I guess. I shouldn’t overthink it that much...”

Celesta nodded. “That’s the spirit. Now then, you should go and rally the other lads out there. Just one more village, and we’re there! We can do this! Don’t you worry about us, we’re coming after you soon!”

“Yes, I agree. Err, I’ll go and do that, yes.”

Victor felt his stomach tie itself into a knot as William headed for the door. Celesta wanted to speak to him, that much was certain. And despite all the many times prior they had spoken, he felt wholly unprepared for what was coming up. Her wing had tied itself tight around his back, in an almost motherly manner. His heart beat against his ribcage; his whole chest felt very warm.

Why do I get the feeling that I know what she wants to talk about?

Celesta cleared her throat. “Well then, Victor. You said some interesting things just now, and I want to talk to you about it.”

Victor gulped. “About what?” That's the same thing she said moments earlier, wasn't it?

“Well, you said you’re struggling with the losses, despite all the success we've had. Not to mention, I think there’s been more than a few nights in which I heard you weeping under the moonlight. Is something the matter, Victor?” Celesta asked, her tail whipping across the floor. Victor grimaced.

She will not stop until she knows every little secret of mine, I swear. “No, why do you ask? I felt bad for the dead, sure, but that’s only natural isn’t it? Everyone feels at least a little grief over someone’s death, especially someone as young as they. And I’m sure that whining sound wasn’t anything. Could’ve been the wind, or some wolves howling. Wolves are kind of scary animals, aren’t they?” Victor licked the grin on his face clean. Celesta laughed.

“Why, my apologies then, Vic. But remember, even if there’s something that doesn’t sit right with you, know that I’ll always be here for you, yes?”

Victor’s facial expression soured. “Yes, I know.”

Celesta leaned forward. Victor’s cheeks puffed up; his blood flared red-hot. He was fortunate that dragons couldn’t blush.

“Sorry, I had to do that real quick! Now then,, let’s go. Let’s not keep the others waiting much longer, shall we?”

* * *

In the snowy squares of the village, the rest of the group had gathered up, loitering about as they waited for the order to move towards the final village they had to capture. They were some fifteen fields removed from the village, and a mere twenty five fields removed from the walls of Whitestream. Victor’s ears caught wind of some kind of blasting noise, one too soft to come from a common cannon. Victor looked around; no one else seemed to have noticed. Perhaps it was just his imagination at play.

“Another ol’ day in the suck. Wonderful.”

“Quit your bitchin’, ya runt. You’ve barely been out in this for a week, an’ you’re already startin’ to sound like some old hag in the streets with her stupid lil’ handcart.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever ya bastard. Not everyone spent their lives stumbling around the farm like some bird digging for insects and crap like that, forest boy. If you like this so much, why don’t you go an’ peel the bark off the trees then, stick it right down your throat. Shouldn’t be too hard for you.”

“Pfft. Go stuff yer face some more, ya fat bastard. All you city folk look like pigs to me.”

“Got a problem with that, forest boy?”

“Alright, just shut it, you fools. We’ve got all of one village to go, let’s end things up on a high note, shall we?” William said, pushing his way through the crowd. “Now that we have these bastards on the ropes, let’s send em back all the way over the Steyer, what do you say?”

“No need to get so excited about it, Captain. ‘S only a village.”

William clicked his tongue. “Yes, yes, but a little excitement couldn’t hurt, right? Last one to go before the big one. Victory’s not far off, you can practically taste it now.”

The men assembled looked at one another with unimpressed stares. “...Sure, Captain. I see that.”

William sighed. “Alright then, let’s just go.”

With the wind at their forefront, the group marched off to the east, their feet struggling to slog over the forgotten roads.

* * *

“Madame Goodsprings, madame Goodsprings! The enemy isn’t far away anymore. They’ve only got a few villages to go.”

“Put all forces on high alert! And tell everyone to wrap up whatever it is they’re doing, they need to get out of the way of the fighting,” Heidi said, overlooking as the men and women of Whitestream dug trenches and built obstacles across the western perimeter.

“Madame, are you sure this will work? These new weapons of ours and what I’m seeing out here aren’t giving me the best vibes.”

“I have no idea,” Heidi replied, “but there’s no time for doubt now. We have to hold out here for as long as we can. This is what General Sanctullator told us, and his history is immaculate. If we must die… then so be it. When I go, I want to know that these vile creatures will not win.”

“Yes madame.”

Out west, the sun sank down on a red horizon; Heidi, and all the residents of Whitestream knew it would be the one of the last sunsets for some of their neighbours, friends, and loved ones..