Seconds after the man entered the room, the guards saw someone running at them at an extreme speed.

“Stop!” they ordered, raising their spears, at the same time that an unintelligible shout came from inside the room.

The one standing on the front recognized the man just before he clashed with them. He tried to shout, but an unstoppable Sting fell on him and the rest of the guards and pushed them aside before slamming the door open and barging in. The room was big, but he crossed it in two steps and attacked the person attacking Sayfire.

While the assassin had time to block, the ferocity of the attack pushed the startled man back and next to a lit torch, where the flickering flame's light revealed Jiovanni's face.

“Traitor!” he barked at Sting.

“Heh, ironic”, the Arknas’ eyes flickered, taking in the entire room.

Jiovanni’s face contorted with anger, confusion, and panic, as his chances of succeeding and escaping fell dramatically. Panicking, he moved towards Sting, but it was then that the guards entered the room and pointed their swords at Sting.

“Not him”, Sayfire shouted, “attack Jiovanni”. The guards looked at them confused. “He tried to kill me!”, she continued, and realization dawned on them as they witnessed Jiovanni’s fury-warped expression.

“Yes, my lady.”

Although the head guard stiffened, he still knew whom he obeyed and rushed to assist Sting, who was in a tough spot. For a man of Jiovanni’s skills, a fight like this would be easy under normal circumstances. But not only were the guards assisting Sting, but Sayfire had also started shouting for help and more guards were moving to their location. Moreover, she too was clutching her dagger tightly and getting ready to defend herself. Her eyes were watching the battle like a hawk’s, and she was using her other hand to apply pressure on a bloody wound on her upper arm.

Under these circumstances, there was no way Jiovanni could end the fight in any short amount of time. Regretful of having missed his opportunity, he forcefully pushed back his anger and unwillingness. If he stayed any longer and more people gathered, then even he would definitely die.

“Damn you!” he shouted, staring directly into Sting’s eyes. “Damn you! You ruined everything!”

Gritting his teeth, he pushed his opponents back and made a run for it with all his strength, but not before sending one more venomous glare at Sting. He was worried about Black Beard too, but the prison was in a different direction than the entrance. Whether his captain made it or not would be up to his own luck.

Meanwhile, a large number of soldiers had shown up outside the room, and naturally, they thought Sting was the culprit. It wasn't easy, but discipline allowed Sayfire to quickly calm them down and explain that Sting was actually the one who saved her.

She didn't even bother with sending people after Jiovanni; simple guards could never catch him and, even if they did, they would be swiftly overpowered. Jiovanni wielded body strengthening magic of great power.

Therefore, Sayfire, even though pained inside, decisively let him escape.

“My lady,” Sting spoke up, “Black Beard is unconscious near the entrance of the prison. If you hurry up, you can capture him before he wakes up.”

On Sayfire’s order, most of the soldiers went after Black Beard leaving her with only Sting, the guards, who were apologizing for their failure, and a couple of extra soldiers who had just arrived.

"Leave us alone", she ordered sternly.

"Ma'am..." the head guard was clearly nervous, unconsciously twisting his spear in his hand.

"Do as I said", she cut him off.

"Yes ma'am", he complied and led his men outside the room, closing the door behind him.

Only the two of them were left in the room now. Sayfire reached for the first aid kit she always kept in her room. Her late father had taught her to always be prepared, hence the dagger under her pillow; she then took off her nightgown to care for her wound.

“Tell me what happened, Sting”, she demanded, still full of tension, and yet he didn't reply.

Surprised at his silence, Sayfire turned around only to find Sting... blushing??

What is he - abruptly, she realized she was only wearing her underwear, alone in the room with him.

Great, now she was blushing too. Calm down Sayfire, don't show weakness. Men were quick to discriminate against women, so she had to always make sure they didn't think of her as a woman, but as a commander.

Most of the people she associated with were battle-hardened men, all of them too experienced to ever make her feel like anything other than a commander and, unconsciously, she had begun to regard herself as one of them too.

In these last hectic months, Sayfire had almost forgotten that she herself was a woman, and a young one at that, which is why she was so quick to undress. Everything around her was war and planning, with the gender of anyone being completely irrelevant, barring strategic or tactical purposes.

And yet, Sting... he was a young man. She had no reason to justify his stupefaction. Sayfire was a commander right now, not a woman, and undressing in front of another was the least of her worries at this point.

Still, being in her underwear in front of a man was a bit... She snuck a peek. Sting wasn't that tall or bulky, but his face was sharp and manly and his body was lean and muscular, his skin a healthy brown. He was currently dressed in the crude, grey robes of a prisoner, but they only served to highlight his double-colored eyes, the blue of the sky and the brown of the earth.

“-and come after Jiovanni", she heard him say, suddenly snapping into focus.

“...Can you repeat?" she was forced to ask, struggling to hide her embarrassment.

“Ah, yes sir- my lady. Jiovanni was a spy of the Black Beard. He broke me and Black Beard out and left us by the entrance, while he came back to kill you. Black Beard wasn’t suspecting me, so it was easy to knock him out and come after Jiovanni. I remembered where your room was since I have... well, I have been here before.”

She barely managed to keep her attention on his words as she noticed his gaze trailing towards her chest before jumping back to her face as if having been burned, meeting her own, knowing eyes... Another round of fierce blushing threatened to overtake her.

With great difficulty, she held his gaze, and he embarrassedly looked away. He was blushing, as was-

Wait… Am I blushing too?!

As she struggled against her natural instinct to cover her chest, she tried to sound commanding. “So, when you said you had a change of heart, you weren’t lying after all.”

Some days ago, Sting had called Sayfire and told her that he wanted to enlist with the revolution. Naturally, she didn’t trust him then, what with having tried to kill her and all. But now, things were different. If not for him, she would be a corpse, one among many.

“Do you still want to join the revolution, Sting?” she asked. Something in the back of her mind told her this required more thought, but another just wanted him to join. Calm down! she ordered herself. You're a military commander, not a little girl!

“Yes”, he replied simply.

“Very well. In my authority as the revolution’s leader, I appoint you as a member of the revolutionaries." And then she smiled. For no reason. Like an idiot.

"For now, you will remain imprisoned until tomorrow, when I inform the rest of the mountain about this. Then, in a few days, you will embark on your first mission. You will accompany a diplomatic envoy to the Elven Kingdom in the place of Jiovanni. I trust you, Sting”, she finished, finally managing to regain herself and allowing her regal attitude to reappear. “Don’t make me regret it.”

“I won’t”, he smacked his chest, and she found it weirdly impressive. “I swear it upon the name of Deus, the God of Gods.”

After Sting was led to prison and Black Beard had been successfully recaptured, Sayfire dismissed everyone. She went back to her room and shut the door behind her, ordering the guards to not let anybody in. Then she cried, for betrayal was a heavy thing.

Did she blush? thought Sting as he was escorted to the prison, the image of Sayfire's elegant-yet-not-lacking-curves body still prevalent in his mind.

Nah... Must have been my imagination.

🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️

The following day, there was a big commotion near the mountain’s entrance. A few hours ago, Sayfire had announced the incident of last night. Black Beard too had been found unconscious near the prison and recaptured. And, while Jiovanni’s betrayal had been shocking news, the crowd had eventually dispersed.

Yet now another crowd had formed. Vreil, Nigel, and Arthur were on their way to training, but they decided to check things out. Surprised, they saw Sayfire there, happily hugging a huge man wearing heavy armor. His hair was grey but he seemed pretty lively for his age. A long sword hung from his belt and he was smiling happily while looking at Sayfire.

At first, Vreil thought he was her lover, but the age difference was too big. Probably. Sayfire looked like she had completely forgotten about last night, and it was the first time he saw her acting normally around the soldiers.

“Welcome back, General Escers”, she finally let go of him. “Good job on your mission.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Lady Sayfire”, laughed the man, and his booming voice carried kindness and happy vibes. “It’s a shame that I will have to leave again so soon.”

“Well, what can we do? The dwarves will not persuade themselves”, she laughed.

Upon hearing the word ‘dwarves’, Arthur suddenly and loudly exclaimed his surprise before he could stop himself. “Dwarves?!”

Everyone stopped talking and looked at him, including Sayfire and Escers. He blushed, as two other people had, last night.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “It slipped out.”

“It’s alright, Arthur”, replied the General, smiling at the young man. “You seem to have grown a lot since the last time I saw you.”

Immediately, Arthur seemed to glow. “Thank you, General”, he replied, and his grin reached from one ear to the other. By now, the crowd had parted around Arthur, Vreil, and Nigel, and Sayfire remembered that two of these promising young men hadn’t met the General before.

“Let me introduce you”, she said. “This is General Escers. General, these are Vreil and Nigel. Quite promising, both of them.”

“It’s nice to meet you, young ones.”

“It is our honor, General”, they both nodded deeply, in a show of respect.

“Now that I remember it, my lady”, the General then turned towards Sayfire. “Is it possible to include Arthur in my envoy?”

As soon as he heard that, Arthur almost fainted from joy. General Escers had always been his role model, and now he was personally invited to join him in a mission. And one that had something to do with dwarves!!

Sayfire raised a brow. “General, Arthur just came back from a mission himself; he may be too tired.”

“Hmm”, the General cupped his chin, looking at Arthur. “Are you, boy? Are you really too tired?”

“Of course not, General. I am ready to join you at any time”, he replied with a chest full of pride.

“Then I guess it’s settled, my lady?”

She nodded. “Very well.” That was all Escers needed.

“Pack your things, Arthur. We leave in two mornings. But I have to warn you: the mission this time will be tougher than anything you have faced before. It will not be a simple battle. Do you want to hear what it will be?”

Arthur gulped loudly. “Yes, sir?”

General Escers adopted a serious look, losing all semblance of joviality, and put his face close to Arthur’s. “Politics”, he barked, and then laughed out loud.

“Um, okay, General…”

“It will be a diplomatic mission, son. You will use your head, not your sword. On the second dawn from now, be ready. Now you will excuse me, boys, I have a job to do.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Why do you want Arthur to be on your mission?” Sayfire inquired when they were alone.

Escers looked at her seriously, all hints of the previous mirth gone. “Don’t you remember who Arthur is?”