Princess Henrietta de Tristain, crown princess of Tristain and heir to her father's throne, came suddenly back to her senses. She found herself on her side, her head aching and her vision blurred. In the dimness beside her, the elderly figure of Cardinal Mazarin moaned weakly. All around her lay buckled wood and broken glass. It dawned on the Princess that she was within the ruined confines of her carriage. The carriage was laying on its side, light filtering through the damaged wood and canvas above her. Judging by the Cardinal's condition, he had attempted to protect her when the carriage had been overturned.
Henrietta shivered as she heard the sounds of battle. The shouts of her Guards as they incanted spells and strange unearthly cries and groans. They must be under attack!
"Princess, Princess!" A voice shouted from above.
"Y-yes? Yes, I'm here!" It was one of her Guards.
"Are you alright Princess!"
"Yes. I am unharmed." She shouted back. "But, the Cardinal is injured."
There was a pause of several moments. "Does he need immediate treatment, Princess?"
"J-Just one moment."
The man did not look too badly injured, but her limited training as a healer told her not to move him until she knew more. Hands moved deftly over the man's body feeling for bruising and any other readily discernible signs of injury. The Cardinal's left arm hung limply, dislocated, check for other injuries around the sight of the dislocation, she could feel two ribs that weren't moving properly as the man breathed, she leaned in and heard an unpleasant grinding noise as he wheezed in pain, broken ribs.
"Cardinal. Cardinal Mazarin, can you hear me?" Henrrieta asked urgently. "Please, open your eyes if you can hear me."
The graying old man's eyes fluttered open. "Princess . . . Henrietta." He wheezed. His eyes fell on her arm. "You've been injured . . ." He reached out with his good arm and placed it against the princesses shoulder. When she glanced down she saw blood trickling from her own arm and felt the sharp sting of a deep cut.
"I am fine Cardinal, it is you who is seriously injured, now be still, you've broken ribs and . . ." She reached into her gown and withdrew her wand, with a short incantation she summoned up a small light and shown it into the cardinal's eyes. "You also have a concussion. You must be still while I treat you."
She turned to shout back to her Guard. "I can see to the Cardinal." She said.
"Then stay in the carriage Princess, do not expose yourself, do you understand?"
"Then I must go to my comrades, Princess, stay here, and do not move until we come for you." She heard the man jump down from the side of the carriage and his footsteps fade off in the direction of the battle.
Henrietta turned her attention to the Cardinal. The man tried to protest but he was too disoriented from the pain and the concussion to put up much of a fight. First, she examined the head for any other signs of injury before casting a spell to retard bruising from the concussion. Next she saw to the ribs, further spells to keep the chest properly inflated and hold the ribs in place followed by probing for signs of bruising that might indicate internal bleeding.
With water magic the dislocation was easy enough to set without disturbing the chest, and a combination of a crudely fashioned sling made from torn seat fabric and a localized paralysis spell ensured that the cardinal would not make things worse by moving his injured arm. As much as she wanted to, she did not cast anything to numb the pain lest it mask the symptoms of some other injury.
Henrietta was startled from her work by a sudden change in the sounds coming from outside the carriage. The carriage rocked on its side as something struck the overturned roof. Henrietta looked about, there had to be some way for her to see outside without exposing herself. Her eyes drifted to a narrow window at the front of the carriage. It was meant to allow the occupants to call instruction to the coachman. Now it might give her a peak outside.
She carefully crawled over the Cardinal and climbed up onto the seat. There was a wooden slat over the window that could be closed to offer the carriage occupants some privacy. It seemed to be jammed but after only a moments work it loosened and slid clear. What she saw through the narrow window made her blood run cold.
The carriage was lying turned over in the middle of the road. Of the team of unicorns assigned to pull the carriage, two of the sacred beasts had slipped their harnesses and run. Of the remainder, one lay dead. The other had fallen on its side, becoming entangled and whinnying fearfully.
She could see several of her Guards casting spells into the surrounding forest. At first she could not see the assailant, or rather could not understand what it was she was seeing. It was unlike anything she had ever seen or heard of before. It looked for all the world to be an immense flower, its four huge petals green and splotched with red and violet. It was as tall as a church tower and festooned with a thick curtain of vines that draped from its highest leaves. The low wooden groans came from its base as it shuffled about on a writhing bed of roots that quested and slid endlessly over one another.
As she watched, a pair of Griffin Knights circling above completed an incantation from atop their mounts and sent forth twin volleys of fire and wind. The flames impacted the plant, consuming its flank in fire and singeing the edges of its petals. The wind fed the flames and ensured that the plant matter continued to smolder.
The flower waved lazily from side to side, slowly the vines began to sway and twirl like the dress of a dancer. With a flick of its stem, the vines whipped up into the air, unfurling and extending until a loud -crack- emanated from the tips. One of the Griffin Knights was stricken from the sky, rider and mount separating and falling away from one another. She did not see if the Knight was able to cast levitate and arrest his descent before his fall took him beneath the trees.
The other Knight attempted to evade the attack, partially succeeding as his mount was struck only a grazing blow across its flank. Blood ran freely from the wounded Griffin's side and the creature cried out in pain. The Knight managed to keep his mount under control but was forced to withdraw, descending into the forest off to Henrietta's right.
For an instant, it seemed that the two mages had been the last of her mounted Guards but then she heard the low roar of magically driven wind and watched as a wave of razor like hail crashed into the ambulatory plant, shredding its curtain of vines. A pair of griffins swooped past, their riders having come dangerously low. The flower shuddered and seemed to deflate, its petals wilting as it gathered the remaining vines closely around its stem.
The Knights, having realized the effectiveness of their last attack, circled around for another pass.
The flower, eyeless and earless, somehow watched them, and as they approached once more, the remaining vines and leaves began to wrap around the stem and the petals began to quiver and release a fine dust into the air. The pollen collected into a cloud around the flower as the Griffin Knights began to incant, and in a single violent motion, the leaves and vines unfurled, fanning the cloud outward.
The Knights had no time to evade as they were swallowed in the fine pollen, their mounts cried out in surprise and began to list in the air, they plummeted from the skies, crashing into the ground and skidding to a halt in a heap of fur and feathers. The Knights and their mounts struggled to stand, but the pollen seemed to be doing something to them, when one of the Griffins failed to rise, its rider dismounted and attempted to stagger onwards, he made it only a few mails before he himself collapsed drunkenly.
The cloud spread swiftly outward, afflicting the remaining members of her Guard. Henrietta watched as one by one, the mages sank to their hands and knees, stricken before they could realize what was happening. A faint sweetness reached her as she gazed out the window and she felt dizziness overtaking her. Quickly she brought a hand up over her mouth and cast a small wind spell to keep the pollen away from her face.
The plant seemed to regard the stricken Knights as if sizing them up, before bending down over the nearest Knight, delicately its vines began to pluck the man up, coiling around his body. The Knight struggled feebly as he was hoisted into the air and swung slowly back and forth. The swing built momentum and then finally he was swung over the top of the petals. In the blink of an eye, something long and red snapped out from the center of the flower and completely engulfed him, and like a toad eating a fly, he was gone. Henrrieta clamped her hands of her mouth.
After its first morsel the plant seemed divided between the remaining Knights and the wounded Griffinns. The Knights were hardly a satisfying meal, but the griffins were admittedly quite large. A whinnying cry made the flower aware of a third option. Though it had no face Henrietta was certain the flower had turned towards her and the trapped unicorn. The flower seemed to make up its mind, a unicorn seemed like a nice middle ground between a human and Griffin.
Henrietta watched the thing approach, preceded by that wooden groan, it sounded like a whole forest was falling towards her. There was no place to escape to and nowhere to hide. If she attempted to climb or levitate from the carriage the creature would strike her down and if she stayed here it would no doubt find her. She clutched her wand tightly and mustered her resolve. She was a triangle of water and a member of Tristain's royal family, she could defend herself if need be.
Thinking quickly. The Knights had dealt the flower a crippling blow when they struck its stem, more importantly it was distracted by the unicorn and had not taken notice of her. When it neared she would attack with all her might as it went for the unicorn, surely if she could just sever the stem . . .
The flower reached the Unicorn, which was now struggling in terror. Henrietta began her incantation as the flower leaned slowly downward, the words resonated with something deep within her, once, dot, extending its vines to grab hold of the unicorn and more importantly, twice, line, exposing its stem, thrice, triangle. This close, Henrietta could see where the roots met with the stem. That would be the place to strike, she would finish this with one blow.
The chant complete, the last syllables of the incantation parting from her lips. The spell was two waters and an earth, a strange choice for the Princess who's elemental affinity was pure water, but one carefully selected for its effects. Unlike fire which was at its most powerful when pure, water attacks often benefitted from mixing with other elements. The ground water beneath the earth erupted in a geyser, carrying with it sand and gravel. The spell was called an abrasion sword, a jet of high speed water carrying shards of earth which cut like ten thousand knives.
At the very last instant the plant somehow sensed the oncoming attack. Its vines released the unicorn and gathered close. 'No!' Henrietta thought desperately. Where the muddy jet touched, the vines were effortlessly severed, they fell coiling lifelessly to the ground. But their sacrifice disrupted the jet, her attack did not penetrate to the stem.
The carriage buckled as it came under attack and Henrrieta was thrown back from the window. The wooden groans were joined by sounds of splintering, the carriage shook and began to roll once more, slowly, painfully, the roof of the carriage was pried free at the protest of wood and nails. The roots and vines began to probe inwards, not more than a few mails from Henrietta.
Beside her, the Cardinal tried to move. "Princess . . . Run . . . Save yourself." Mazarin said deliriously. The princess thought desperately, she could not leave the Cardinal here to face such a fate, but if she were to lure the monster away.
Henrrieta staggered to her feet and incanted once more. A short jet of pressured water slammed into the roots, knocking them out of her way and clearing a path through the gap torn in the roof. The creature seemed surprised and before it could recover, Henrrieta was running, stumbling as she landed on the uneven gravel of the roadway. Henrietta smelled the strange sweetness in the air and felt a faintness overtaking her. She grimaced, this was what had afflicted her Guards. She could not allow herself to inhale the pollen.
Holding her arm over her mouth and nose the princess recited another incantation, summoning together the vapor from the air to form a concealing mist that rolled over the clearing and masked the forest beyond. She did not know by what means the creature sensed its pray but anything to distract it was worth trying, and more importantly, the heavy mist would help to cleanse the pollen from the air.
In the mist the monster loomed, a dark shadow, its outline blotting out the sun. Henrietta stumbled backward, preparing to cast once more. Though her first attack had been thwarted, she had done damage, another triangle class spell might be enough. Then she felt something hard and rough brush against her leg.
Henrrieta screamed as the thing, one of the creature's roots, coiled serpentine about her ankle. The Princess was pulled off of her feet and dragged back through the mist towards the waiting flower. Desperately she began another incantation, the roots whipped past her, lashing at her face and limbs. She almost lost her wand but managed to barely keep hold.
Through the mist she could see the flower clearly once more, it towered above her, its petals and fronds curving up above her head. The vines snaked around her waist, constricting, hoisting her up. The last moments of the unfortunate Mage Knight ran through her mind and she clenched her eyes tightly shut as she felt herself being lifted up, and up, and . . . down?
An intense dry heat washed across the princess's face. Henrrieta felt herself plummeting and then two powerful arms catching her and the rush of suddenly hurtling sideways before becoming still. A voice spoke, deep and rough, "Are you alive, Girl?" Henrietta opened her eyes slowly and went agape.
She knew immediately that the man was not one of her Guards. He was clad all in red, red armor, red cape, and fiery red hair. Even the man's deeply tanned skin gave an impression of redness. When she saw his pointed ears, she almost fainted in terror at the thought that he was an elf, but, she didn't think they made Elves that big. The man looked down at her, violet eyes studying her from beneath thick eyebrows.
"Are you hurt?" The man asked in a deep voice, his accent strange and vaguely reminiscent of a Romalian.
Henrietta shook her head, feeling as if she was in a daze.
"Hmph." The man lowered her to the ground. Standing beside him, her head barely came to the man's sternum. "Stay put and try not to die." The man said. "I have to kill this first. Then you will answer my questions." He turned to face the flower which was now recoiling, shaking to and fro as if the series of events had begun to enrage it.
"A Venus Man Eater." The man muttered out loud. "What a pain. If it gets any closer to the town those cowardly Undines will scatter. It'll be like herding cats to get them back." Without taking his gaze from the monster, he raised his right arm and gestured off past Henrietta. "Mage team. Continue to cast dispell. Lancer Squadron corral the Man Eater from behind."
Henrietta heard the sounds of strange chanting unlike any she had heard before and turned see that they were not alone in the clearing. A dozen other figures had appeared as if from nowhere. Six were garbed in deep red robes and wielded staffs. Mages. The other six wore heavy armor of the same deep red as her rescuer and wielded long lances, though Henrietta could see no mounts.
"B-but Gene-kun!" One of the Lance wielders shouted. "You saw what happened to Garsk and the others we can't . . . That thing might kill us."
The huge man turned his head to his subordinate and with menace said. "And if you disobey me. I will definitely kill you."
The protesting man stiffened in his armor. "Y-yes, General Eugene, Lance Unit, scatter and encircle!" Henrietta watched as translucent red wings formed from the backs of the armored warriors. With only a moment's hesitation they burst forward, skirting across the clearing and surrounding the monster.
As soon as the Lancers took flight, the mages completed their incantation. The strange runes that had inscribed themselves in the air around them were washed away as the ground beneath them glowed. Suddenly a furnace like heat filled the air and the mist Henrietta had cast began to burn away.
The large man, General Eugene unsheathed his own sword, a massive two handed weapon. The same translucent red wings formed on his back and spread themselves wide, then the man seemed to disappear in a cloud of dust. In an instant he had covered the distance between himself and the monster. The flower, again anticipating an attack on its stem, wrapped its remaining vines around itself.
The man swung his blade and it appeared to pass through the vines without severing them. As if the weapon had turned to mist. The flower shook like a tree struck by a hatchet blow and the vines lashed outward desperately before falling as if stunned. Thick sap was oozing from a gash in the stem.
"Lance Unit, strike!" The man ordered.
Cries of "Affirmative!" Came from the surrounding Lancers as they burst into action. In rapid succession they sprinted into the gap in the flower's attacks, born forward by their wings to strike at the stem. Henrietta understood now, the heavy lances and their heavy armor were to lend more weight to their blows, their coordination making up for their unwieldy equipment.
The flower was beginning to shake again. "It's starting to debuff!" General Eugene shouted. "Mages, counter!"
The General and his lancers leapt back as pollen began to fall once more. But before it could fan the spores, the six mages completed another of their spells, the air around the flower began to ripple and the spores started to smolder in midair.
"Lancers, Guard Position." General Eugene shouted and then he was moving again, closing for the finishing blow. The wooden moans emanating from the flower's base began to change and deepen. The writhing of the roots became frenzied.
"No!" One of the Lancers, the one who had protested earlier suddenly shouted, his eyes wide with shock. "General! It's different! The attack patterns have changed! Lance team, fall back!"
A wave of earth emanated from the base of the flower, as if something was moving below. As it passed, the ground cracked and split. The wave grew in the direction of General Eugene and then exploded outward, dark tendrils spearing towards the charging man. The General saw the attack at the last instant but there was no time to stop, his momentum bore him forward. The General roared like a beast of the wild as he swung his sword down into a Guard. The first root struck and was deflected, he shifted the blade and caught another, cleaving it lengthwise. But there was another, and another. They tore into his cape and dented his armor, they found the soft spots, a gap in his flank, and beneath his arm. The General was skewered through his shoulder and side. He stumbled, he fell, his body skidding across the upturned earth, coming to rest mere mails from the bed of roots. The man howled in pain as the roots twisted about, clutching at the one that had dug into his shoulder. His pained cries were swallowed by the moans of the roots as they closed in on him.
Seeing their leader stricken down, the Lancers began to fall into a panic. Their coordination from moments before dissolving. One of them came gliding down beside Henrietta, falling backwards as he landed. Most of his face was obscured by his helm but his eyes were visible, opened wide in terror. She heard him breathing heavily, hyper ventilating.
The man began to babble nonsense. "It's just supposed to be a game. This is just supposed to be a game. It's just a game, oh god, oh god . . . I . . . I . . ."
"Get a hold of yourself." Henrietta grabbed hold of the man's shoulder and shouted at him. "Your General needs you!"
He looked up at her distantly, confused, and then zeroed in on her face, on her eyes. He trembled. "I- I can't. This isn't really . . . This isn't supposed to be real . . . I'm not . . ."
"Look!" Henrietta cried and waved at the battle. Already some of the other Lancers and Mages had fled. Only two of the Lancers and three of the Mages remained, too stricken by fear to move. "Are they not your comrades? Will you abandon them?"
"N-no . . ." The man shook his head fearfully. "B-but . . ."
"Then stand, soldier!" She cried. "I know not your name or creed, but we share one foe. If you can wield your lance, than Guard me as I cast, if you can wield magic, then cast at my side! But first you must stand!"
The man staggered to his feet, using his heavy lance to steady himself. "Th-that mist from earlier, are you an Undine?" The man asked.
What nonsense was this? Henrietta shook her head. "I am a triangle of water." She said. "Tell me, the stem is its weakness, correct?"
The man nodded. "Yes." He said quickly. "Severing the stem completely will kill it. It will be stunned for a brief time after each strike before counter attacking with a debuff or paralyzing pollen, but I've never seen that root wave before."
Henrietta didn't know what a "debuff" was, but the obvious solution was to finish this monster in the next blow. The vines that had once protected the stem were now all but gone, only the viciously churning roots remained to contend with.
"Guard me as I cast." Henrietta instructed the man before beginning her incantation. The abrasion sword was still her best chance. As she cast, another of the roots shot forth. The Lancer beside her intervened, charging forward with a fear filled cry, he hunched down behind his shield. The root struck the Lancer's shield like a bell and the man cried out as he was driven back, his heavy boots digging into the earth. The wings she had seen before flickered to life and extended, lending their power to slow his backwards progress.
"Hurry." He shouted.
Henrietta cast the abrasion sword and the jet of sand and water erupted from the earth before her, questing for the stem of the massive plant. The roots that had been advancing towards the crippled General suddenly threw themselves upward and into the path of the jet, exploding into splinters as they were struck, flying apart violently and unbalancing the questing plant. For a precious instant the jet connected with the stem, eating nearly halfway through before expending itself.
The monster sagged down once more as it repeated its previous pattern. Just as the Lancer had predicted, the flower began to shake in preparation for releasing another blast of pollen. Henrietta prepared herself, her willpower reserves wouldn't last much longer.
A violent gale blew through the clearing, the gathering pollen cloud thinned to nothing. From the amongst the trees a figure was running forth, one of the Griffin Knights who had been forced down. He waved his wand sword before him with one hand, chanting as he went, while clutching down on his hat with the other.
The plant bent towards the oncoming Knight, its petals drooping to touch the ground. Something shot from the center of the flower, long and red and filled with needle like teeth, but the Griffin Knight danced to the side with startling grace. Completing his chant the air around him gathered and condensed into a vortex, stretching, elongating, taking the form of a spear. The spell plunged forth, skewering the plants maw and sending the flower reeling back.
"Princess!" The man shouted. "Now, run!"
The ground around the Griffin Knight exploded as roots plunged up from beneath him. The plant was no longer trying to aim its attacks, now it simply flailed wildly. The roots around the Griffin Knight shattered in a shower of wood splinters and the man staggered forth.
"The Stem!" Henrietta shouted. "You must sever the stem!"
Her Guard made no indication of hearing her but conjured another wave of air needles to shred the roots and clear a path towards the flower. He was already calling forth his next attack when one of the roots grabbed hold of his arm and yanked him to the ground. Henrietta watched as the Knight struggled, hacking at the roots with his blade, when he severed one, another would take its place. The flower was in a shambles, yet it still would not die, would not stop.
Henrietta quivered with fear, with anger, all about her lay her fallen Guards, many of them still breathing, but helpless to defend themselves. At her side, the Lance who had Guarded her, sagged to his knees. "It's over." He whispered, "We've nothing left." The fear had seemed to drain from him with the last of his strength. He struggled to his feet. "You. Girl . . . Run. I'll hold it off. Go, before I change my mind." He said. The man rose shakily and readied himself for a final push.
"I will not abandon my people!" Henrietta protested. Though she didn't know what she could do against this monster, if she ran now, the Guards who had fallen trying to defend her would be eaten alive while they lay defenseless.
Then an inhuman roar rose from amongst the roots. Something was rising, the roots struggled to keep whatever it was pinned. They began to smoke, to smolder. A dome of roots rose as tall as a man and then in a instant were turned to ashes by a brilliant flame that seared at Henrietta's eyes like the sun. When her vision cleared, out of the smoke stood General Eugene. She did not know how he could remain standing. His armor was a shambles, scratched and dented, torn and shorn. Where the roots had struck him, blood oozed around the severed stumps that protruded from his body.
"Mage team!" The man roared, nearly doubling over with the effort. "Cast an attack buff!"
The frozen mages, snapped from their stupor, regaining some of their lost composure. As if seeing the unbelievable had given them new strength, the red clad warriors regrouped. Even the man beside her stood taller, watching his commander.
The chant came fervent and hurried. The runes she had seen scribed in the air earlier came once more, stacking themselves one atop the other. Was this some sort of elemental combination? But if it was, they were stacking far more than four units, they were stacking eight! No, that couldn't be right!
The mages looked up as their spell was completed stretching their hands out towards their General. The man began to glow, outlined by a fearsome red light. He let out one last cry, one last effort, and charged again into the heart of the monster. The remaining roots barred his way, only to be bludgeoned aside, like a berserker, like a wild animal he drove onward, shattering wood and tearing vines until he stood at the stem. His sword described a blood red arc, his blade bit into the stem driving onward as he carried his swing through with all of his might. The stem resisted, it gave, it was smashed to pulp. The sword came to halt a mere finger's width from severing the stem.
The flower ceased its wild thrashing.
Was it over? Henrietta wondered. A low moan issued once more from the base of the plant. "Oh no!" But it was different this time, the sound began to attenuate, to crack, and pop. The flower began to fall backwards, the last inches of its stem severing. With a crash the flower fell to earth like a shorn tree.
"Timber, you bastard." The man beside her breathed.
In the silence that followed, General Eugene sank to his knees, Whatever strength had driven his final attack had faded. Henrietta surveyed the destruction in mute silence. So quickly had the fight begun and so quickly it had ended. Henrietta turned to the Lancer.
"Mister . . ." Henrietta began and then paused, realizing that she had not heard his name during the battle. "What should I call you?" She asked.
"Simply call me Kagemune." The man said before the strength vanished from his legs and he sagged to the earth.
"A strange name." Henrietta frowned. "What of my Guards? You said the flower paralyzes its victims."
The man nodded. "Yes . . . If . . ." He took a breath, his voice was shaking. "If the pollen works as it should . . ." He sounded uncertain. "Then they should begin to recover in about half an hour."
Henrietta felt relief wash over her. "Thank the Founder." She whispered.
A rustling came from the roots of the dead plant and the Griffin Knight that had struck the beast rose from the still tendrils. Though his clothes were torn and he had lost his hat, he appeared unharmed, another blessing. Henrietta began to walk towards the defeated monster, pausing for a moment at the edge of its bed of roots to confirm that it was, in fact, dead, before wading into the mess.
"Princess." The Knight called. "Are you unharmed?"
Henrietta nodded. "Thanks to these strangers, yes."
The man eyed the red clad group warily. "My Lady, who are these people?"
"I do not rightly know . . ." She hesitated, not recalling the man's name.
"Viscount Wardes, My Lady, Captain of your Griffin Knights." Wardes offered.
The princess nodded to her Knight. "Thank you Captain, I do not know if the creature would have been slain without your help." Before Wardes could respond, Henrietta heard the panicked voices of the red garbed men. The remaining mages and Lancers who had not run were gathered around their General. The lancers were applying pressure to his wounds while the mages began to cast their spells, but half way through their incantation, the strange runes began to unravel and fade away.
"I'm out of mana." One mage shouted.
"Me too." His companion said.
"We were so concentrated on the battle, we didn't keep a reserve."
"Commander Kagemune, what about you?"
The Lancer who had come to Henrietta's aid shook his head. "I'm exhausted as well from earlier." The man grimaced.
"K-Kagemune-san." General Eugene was still conscious. He gave a pained smile to his subordinate. "I see you didn't run away, so I suppose I won't kill you . . . I will leave the punishment of your cowardly subordinate to you.
"Gene-kun!" Kagemune whispered. "Please Sir, hold on."
"Tell my brother . . . tell my brother . . ."
A faint glow began to emanate around the generals wounds and his gathered subordinates turned to see Henrietta, wand in hand, beginning to incant.
"My lady, his ears, he's an Elf!" Wardes hissed beside her and clamped a hand down on her shoulder.
"If these men are truly Elves, then there is no escape for us Captain." Henrietta said. "But for now, this man has saved my life, so I shall save his."
"Please Miss. Save our General!" Kagemune pleaded and bowed his head until it touched the ground .
"Princess." Wardes growled.
"Captain Wardes." Henrietta said sternly. "Cardinal Mazarin is still in the wreck of my carriage. I stabilized his condition earlier but I would like you to attend to him."
The Knight looked at his Princess in disbelief and then to the gathered group of mages and Lancers and took a slow step back, and then another, but he obeyed.
"What are you . . ." Eugene began only to stop as Henrietta placed a hand against his shoulder.
"Please stay still and try not to die." Henrietta said, focused on her task. "I have to save you. And then you will please answer my questions."
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/halkegenia-online.3366/#post-380084