Next to her, Lossë struggled to sit back up from being manhandled like that. When she did, she gave Narsha quite a few puzzled looks. “What did he mean when he said he thought he could count on you and your warband?” she asked skeptically.

    Narsha stared daggers at the human. “That’s irrelevant information at the moment,” she snided.

    “I think it’s very relevant!” Lossë argued back.

    One of the guards snickered. Narsha knew him well. He was Brant Sandshroud of the ash legion. “You should have seen her back in the day! As zealous as you can find ‘em!” he said.

    “What was it you said, Sharpfang? ‘The day I side with a human is the day you can stake me on my own horns’ was it? I guess that day has finally come,” said a second renegade while chuckling. Narsha knew her too as the gladium Larona. Seems the warband she chose to rejoin were the renegades.

    After that, the two guards stepped away from the cage, likely to keep en eye out on the cave’s exits.

    Lossë gave Narsha a very angry glare at that point. “Why?!” she asked angrily.

    “Why what,” Narsha snapped back.

    “Why do you charr hate us humans so much?! It’s not fair!” Lossë yelled.

    “Fair? Fair?!” Narsha yelled back. She was tied up but she still managed to straighten herself a little to, once again, seem more intimidating.

    “You stomped your way into Ascalon accompanied by your human gods! You kicked us out of our own home! You built a wall to then keep us out and mock us! And then you act surprised when we retaliated! Do you think that’s fair to you?!” Narsha spat. Her face had now gotten so close to Lossë’s, she could practically feel the human’s breath on her snout.

    Loose, in the meantime, had shrunken a little into herself. “Wha-... but… but we… that’s not true! Ascalon was ours first! Everyone in Ebonhawke knows that!” she argued back.

    Narsha’s eyes went a little wider at that point. She should be absolutely livid and tear this human to shreds for even daring to suggest such a false narrative but… she didn’t. Lossë seemed absolutely convinced and there could be only one explanation for that.

    “That’s seperatist propaganda. You shouldn’t listen to that,” Narsha said, a little calmer now. The separatists were basically the human equivalent of the charr renegades. Paradoxically, the separatists and the renegades wanted the exact same thing which is to perpetuate the war between their factions.

    “Propaganda? And how do you know your story isn’t renegade propaganda?” Lossë snided, a little softer now.

    “Because the history books corroborate my story,” Narsha said as she sat back to lean against the cell bars.

    “History books?” Lossë asked, surprised.

    Narsha groaned under her breath. What else had these separatists told the people of Ebonhawke? No wonder there was still so much animosity. Not that she didn’t feel that same animosity towards humans…

    “Well… if that’s true, then that still doesn’t excuse the absolute devastation you guys caused with the searing! So many people died…” Lossë said.

    It was definitely a good point. The searing was an event over 250 years ago. The charr shaman caste had summoned a ritual that caused the sky to rain fiery crystals that absolutely demolished the lands of Ascalon and altered the landscape forever. Even now, some of those crystals could still be seen here and there. “I didn’t. The flame legion’s ancestors did,” Narsha said. It actually pained her a little bit to say the next bit but it was true. “And neither did you take Ascalon. It was your ancestors who did.”

    Lossë seemed a little calmer as well now. “If you know that, then why do you still hate us?” she asked.

    “I can’t just easily brush that off the way you or Euryale seem to be able to,” Narsha said.

    “But then… why aren’t you allied with the renegades?” Lossë asked.

    There was no skirting around it now.

    “Ajax and I knew each-other well. We respected each-other and our warbands worked together often. When word got out about peace negotiations, all of us were against it. Some of us still are. Until…” Narsha admitted. She really didn’t want to think back to that day. 

    “Until what?” Lossë asked, a little concerned.

    “Mogul Sharpstring was a bandmate of mine. We were dispatched to the Blazeridge Steppes to aid in the fight against one of Kralkatorrik’s lieutenants. We never even got to see the beast because all of a sudden, a brandstorm occurred. It turned several charr into branded, including Mogul who couldn’t escape fast enough,” she explained. There was a lump in her throat. Crying was something charr definitely did do but showing that to people other than your bandmates was simply not done. Therefore, she swallowed it up.

    Lossë gave her a pained look in response to that. “Same as general Soulkeeper then?” she asked.

    Narsha nodded. “I suppose my warband and I can consider ourselves lucky we only lost one but it hit all of us. We learned the hard way that day the true danger these elder dragons pose.”

    Lossë let out a saddened sigh of her own now. “I’m sorry for your loss… He must have meant a lot to you,” she muttered softly.

    “To a charr, warband is everything,” Narsha said.

    Lossë nodded in understanding. “I know many people who have lost friends and family to the branded too… That’s why I wanted to help out in this fight against the ogres so that we can all focus on the dragons afterwards together.”

    Narsha gave the human the side eye for a moment. How was it possible that she was having a bonding moment with a human of all things. What strange fate this was… 

    “So… how about we hold our own peace negotiations right here?” Lossë proposed. She turned around to try and shake hands with the charr, since her hands were tied behind her back.

    Narsha frowned. However, she couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. “You’re an idiot,” she murmured but then she proceeded to do the same thing.

    For a moment afterwards, there was silence. Neither Lossë nor Narsha really had much to say. For Narsha, it was probably better than the alternative of bickering about everything. And if she had to get imprisoned with a human, then perhaps Lossë wasn’t the worst person to get stuck with.

    That is, until both of them could suddenly hear the blood curdling scream of one the charr guards, followed by a second scream coming from the other guard. Both Narsha and Lossë perked up for a moment. What was happening?

    Then, from around the bend in the cave came the norn Selma, her two bloodied axes in hand. “Sorry I’m late!” she said while running to the cage.

    “Selma!” Lossë cheered.

    Narsha was actually quite glad to see her. But of course, she was a legionnaire. She had to maintain her role as leader. “Where in the blazes did you disappear off to?!” she yelled.

    Selma arrived at the cage and began looking for its padlock. “Never walk into the bear’s den unprepared. I stayed outside just in case. Good thing I did or it would have been real cozy in there with the three of us,” she explained as she prepared to bring one of her axes down on the lock. In one swing, she easily broke it, opening the cage.

    Lossë flinched from the action but steadied herself again shortly after. “So the renegades didn’t see you?”

    “Nope, but I sure saw and heard them,” Selma said as she bent over to start releasing Lossë and Narsha from their bonds.

    “Then what took you so long to get to us?” Narsha asked.

    “The renegades lingered outside for a while, discussing further. I couldn’t get in unseen,” Selma said.

    Narsha narrowed her eyes. That meant that there was still time to stop the renegades from enacting their plans. “Excellent work, soldier,” she said. “I’ll make sure to tell your warmaster.”

    Selma smirked as she cut the final bonds off of Lossë’s feet. “Ajax Anvilburn went towards Summit Hill. He plans to assassinate the human delegation leader and blame the delegation from the high legions to stop these negotiations entirely after their distraction at Ebonhawke,” she said.

    Narsha gritted her teeth. “Burn me! There’s no way we can stop all of that with just the three of us, especially when our weapons have been taken away!” she cried out.

    “Wait! I have an idea!” Lossë said.

    Narsha eyed her for a moment. “Shoot,” she said.

    “Remember how this cave leads to Foulbear kraal? There’s several charr warbands and ebon vanguard soldiers stationed there. If we hurry we can call on them for help!” Lossë proposed.

    Narsha placed a hand on her chin. “Good thinking,” she nodded. “Recruit Selma, are you quick on your feet?” she asked.

    “Well sure! Especially if I become the Snow Leopard,” Selma responded.

    “Go to the kraal. Get the charr and ebon vanguard to Ebonhawke fast! We’ll go to summit hill,” Narsha ordered.

    “Yes ma’am!” Selma said. She saluted the legionnaire and then turned around. For a moment she stood still as she channeled her energy. Then, she let out a shout that quickly turned into a loud growl as fur sprouted up all over her skin. A cat’s tail shot out from the base of her spine while her hands and feet turned into claws. Even her facial features morphed into those of a snow leopard. When the transformation was done, she stood as a very tall, humanoid snow leopard before them. However, Narsha and Lossë didn’t really get to look at the skinchanger’s body for too long as before they knew it, Selma was already charging off at breakneck speeds on hands and feet.

    “Neat trick!” Lossë said.

    “That’s a norn for you. Let’s go!” Narsha shouted.

When Narsha and Lossë arrived at the supposed renegade camp, they found that the assault was already over. Several renegades had been captured. Euryale was talking to the warband while warmaster Forgal was busy talking to his soldiers about their next course of action.

    It was Gron who first saw Narsha and Lossë approaching. “Legionnaire!” he shouted, catching everyone’s attention.

    “Sharp warband!” Narsha yelled. “We make way for Summit Hill! Anvilburn will attack there!”

    Warmaster Forgal stepped forward. “Where is Selma?!” he demanded.

    “She’s warning Ebonhawke! The renegades are also planning to attack there as a distraction!” Lossë explained.

    Forgal clenched a fist. “By the bear!” he cursed. “Vigil, move out!”

    Instantly, like a well-oiled machine, the Sharp warband as well as the vigil quickly got ready and started moving out. However, Euryale came to Narsha’s side right away. “Glad to see you guys are okay! But it looks like you’re in need of weapons,” she said.

    “They took ours, yeah…” Lossë said with a sigh.

    Euryale chuckled. “Lucky for you, we got some extra’s off these renegades. Afraid there’s no staff though,” she said.

    “A sword will do just fine as well,” Lossë said smugly.

    Narsha looked at the human for a moment. An elementalist with a sword? Well, alright then…

    “Narsha, what about the prisoners?” Scarra Sharptongue asked.

    Narsha looked over the prisoners for a moment. There were seven of them. They had been tied up already which was good. Leaving them be was of course a risk but she really couldn’t spare any soldier when going up against Ajax. “Leave them!” she commanded.

    “Yes ma’am!” Scarra said while saluting.

    It was going to be do or die. The delegations had to be protected at all costs!

Summit Hill lay quiet. The renegades were likely lying in wait somewhere, waiting for the sounds of explosions over at Ebonhawke. With any luck, Selma was fast enough and those explosions would never come.

    Hurriedly, the group ran up the hill where the delegations from Kryta and the high legions were gathered. Both of them looked up quite confused and, understandably, a little worried about this armed force charging up the hill all of a sudden. It was therefore no surprise that Narsha and the others were stopped by both Seraph as well as Legion soldiers. Luckily, the presence of warmaster Forgal seemed to ease the tension a little bit.

    The charr ambassador, whom Narsha recognized as Ambassador Steelcrusher, stood up from his seat, looking furious at this incursion. “Stand down! The lot of you! What is the meaning of all this?!”

    Narsha saluted the man. “Sir! It’s the renegades! They’re planning an attack here to disrupt the negotiations!”

    The human ambassador jumped up in surprise. “An attack?!”

    Lossë bowed her head in respect. “It’s true, sir! Ajax Anvilburn is amassing around here as we speak!”

    The big, burly Forgal stepped forward as well now. He rose at least a head above most others gathered here and so demanded the attention of all. “It is all true. There is a plot to attack Ebonhawke and this hill at the same time. Divide and conquer, as they say.”

    For a moment, both ambassadors exchanged glances. “Well, we can’t let that happen, can we? Minister Duran, can you fight?” Steelcrusher said.

    The minister looked a little shaken still but managed to hold himself up for now. “Not as well as a charr but I can hold my own. More importantly, what about this attack on Ebonhawke?!”

    Forgal saluted the minister. “Do not worry about that, sir. My recruit is quick on her feet and it is being dealt with as we speak.”

    This seemed to ease the minister’s worries somewhat as he let out a sigh of relief. “Then I suggest we fortify our position here. It is, after all, a very defensible location.”

    “With all due respect, Duran, I think that the best defense is a good offense. If Anvilburn plans on attacking us today, then he must be nearby. We will find him in no time and we will kill him,” ambassador Steelcrusher suggested.

    The minister mulled it over for a moment before nodding. “But how will we find him?”

    Lossë raised her finger up in the air. “We could perhaps lure him out here and then do a surprise attack? You can’t see the Hawkgates from here, so why don’t we just make such a loud sound that it sounds like their plan worked? I’m sure I could try and make that happen.”

    Narsha raised an eyebrow at the human. “You just wanna slam big rocks into the ground, don’t you?”

    “... Maybe…”

    Narsha chuckled. “It’s not a bad idea though,” she admitted.

    “Two can play at that game! Lemme help,” Euryale interjected.

    Ambassador Steelcrusher smirked. “That’s settled then,” he said before turning around to address the soldiers gathered here. “Get ready, people! We have renegades to crush!”

While Euryale and Lossë went off together to make some noise, Narsha talked to the rest of the Sharp warband. “It’s almost time.”

    Havoc Bonesharp snickered. “I already have some bone minions ready to spring up a trap.”

    Dina Sharprazor rolled her eyes. “Where do you even find the corpses to make those?”

    “Necromancer trade secret, my dear Dina.”

    The other charr laughed in response. After all, joking before a big battle always helped to ease some of the tensions.

    “Do we take prisoners?” Scarra asked.

    Narsha shook her head. “Anvilburn and his ilk made their choices. We’re going to make them regret it.”

    Taron Sharpedge nodded as he balled a fist. “For Mogul,” he said softly. Him and Narsha had always been the most conflicted about the peace treaty. Often, he had to remind himself of what had happened, especially when fighting against the renegades.

    “FOR MOGUL!” the whole warband chanted together.

    It was right at that point that several loud bangs could be heard. It was loud enough to send any bird in the area flying for their lives. To be honest, if Narsha didn’t know any better, she’d be on edge too.

    As they had planned before, the ambassadors and their guards ran towards the agreed upon spot. They were going to be the bait after all. At the same time, the Sharp warband members drew their weapons and lay in wait for the renegades. Any moment they could spring up from anywhere.

    But before that happened, Euryale and Lossë actually slid down the mountain behind them. Lossë was using her pinky finger to reach inside her ear. “Whoah, my ears are still ringing.”

    Euryale chuckled. “I hope that was convincing enough.”

    “It was perfect, but shush yourselves now!” Narsha hissed. The plan would fail if they were spotted.

    For a solid minute, nothing appeared to happen. There was only the sound of the breeze rustling through the leaves and the soft breathing of Lossë and the warband. To the point where Narsha started fearing that the plan had been a bust after all. Perhaps the fake explosions weren’t convincing enough after all, or maybe Ajax had a different plan after all.

    But just then, there was movement. From across the hill, several charr appeared bearing swords. And sure enough, Ajax stood at the forefront carrying a longsword.

    Narsha bared her fangs. She did that often when she’d get angry or during a fight. It was the reason that her bandmates decided that her name should be Sharpfang.

    Just a little closer. Almost there…

“NOW!”

It was Warmaster Forgal who had given the command. It was time. Instantly, the vigil, the Sharp warband and several of the delegation guards jumped up from the bushes around the renegades, taking them all by surprise. Narsha, too, charged forwards and bashed her greatsword into the first charr she could reach. 

    Next to her, a second renegade tried to charge her.  However, Lossë dove towards her as her sword was enveloped in flames. The charr howled out as her fur was singed but before she could retaliate, the flames were accompanied by thunder magic. That might have been one of the smoothest swapping of elemental attunements that Narsha had seen, as if weaved together. It was certainly not something that she had ever seen Euryale do at least. Narsha just gave the human an appreciative nod.

    However, at that point a third renegade came charging right at Lossë. Luckily, Narsha spotted him in time. She quickly jumped in front of Lossë to use her aegis shield, sending the attacker back.

    In return, Lossë gave her an appreciative look back. “Thanks!”

    The renegades retaliated with ferocity. They believed in their cause and they were willing to lay down their lives for it. Several vigil soldiers were struck down. Havoc’s bone minions did not last all that long and Scarra was knocked off her feet. It was a good thing Taron was there to stop the renegades from finishing the job. “WE WON’T LOSE ANYONE ELSE!” he yelled angrily as he helped his bandmate back up.

    Forgal was beating down renegades left and right, howling out as he revelled in the glory of battle. His inner norn was finally showing after all. If only Selma could see it. The Sharp warband was having a lot of success as well. Dina used mesmery to trick the renegades into attacking fake clones while Gron was far too quick on his feet to even get hit. Even the charr and human ambassadors were fighting together, defeating three or four renegades by themselves.

    However, Narsha had her own trouble to worry about as Ajax Anvilburn came walking his way right towards her. He was seething with anger and appeared uncaring for the fight that was going on around him.

    Lossë saw him coming too. She used her elemental magic to envelop herself in lightning to charge straight at him, wrapping her sword with ice. However, Ajax was unfazed as he easily used his longsword to deflect her blow and send her flying a few feet, knocking her prone.

    Narsha gasped but could not check up on her as Ajax brought his sword down straight at her. She could just barely hold up her greatsword in time to block it but the leader of the renegades was strong. It took all her strength not to get overwhelmed as well.

    Ajax growled at her and there was absolute fury in his voice. “I left you alive! I thought I could make you see reason! You could have fought alongside us today! But I see now that you are too weak to do what must be done!”

    Narsha held up her greatsword with both hands. “You’re delusional!” she retorted even while she was being pushed back a little.

    “Do you really think Mogul would have wanted this?!”

    That was a low blow. There was a momentary flash of weakness in Narsha as the events of that day replayed before her eyes. What would Mogul have wanted of this day? What would he have done?

    Ajax used this lapse of weakness to drive Narsha further back, making it so Narsha had to use even more strength to keep her enemy back.

    But it was at that moment that ice started appearing on the ground right at Ajax’s feet. It caused the renegade to slip, giving Narsha finally a chance to push him back. Was that Euryale who had done that?

    “Back off!” came the squeaky voice of Lossë who had gotten herself back on her feet. She looked quite bruised and there was a little bit of blood on her arm but otherwise, she was still ready to battle.

    Narsha couldn’t help but look at the human for a moment in surprise. For one who had appeared so naive, she knew how to fight alright. The legionnaire grinned and got back into a battle stance, her greatsword at the ready. “You are a stubborn fool, Anvilburn, and you will pay the price for your blindness to the dragons!”

    Ajax howled out in anger and charged forward again, his longsword at the ready. But this time, he was facing off against Narsha and Lossë together. Narsha activated her virtues for defense while Lossë used offensive elemental magic to beat the renegade back. At the start of this day, Narsha had not expected to be fighting side by side with a human and yet here she was.

    And they were quickly gaining the upper hand against the leader of the renegades. Most of his attacks were deflected by Narsha’s guardian spells and because Ajax was fighting alone, he did not have enough hands to block Lossë’s attacks. Soon enough, Lossë was able to strike the man with several icy rocks, finally knocking him on his back.

    Narsha quickly kicked his longsword away while Lossë held her sword over him, rocks and lightning swirling around it. Narsha looked the fallen charr in the eyes, a sense of calm washing over her now. “It’s over, Anvilburn. You have lost.”

    Ajax snarled at her but Narsha remained unfazed. “You will come to regret this day!”

    “You’ll be the one to regret it once you arrive in the mists!” Lossë yelled at him.

    Narsha could just barely force back a chuckle. She was really trying to sound threatening there and it was almost convincing enough.

    But it was a good thing she managed to hold that back for right at that moment, she could see a very evil look enter Ajax’s eyes. With great speed, he suddenly pulled a knife from a hidden pouch behind his back and used it to try and stab at the unsuspecting Lossë. “CHARR ABOVE ALL!”

    “NO!” Narsha cried out as she instantly slammed her greatsword straight down the middle onto the renegade’s chest just before his knife could reach its target. The fatal blow caused the charr to go limp as he drew his final breath. Ajax Anilburn, leader of the renegades, was dead.

    The loss of their leader was a big blow to the morale of the renegades around them. Some tried to flee while others surrendered. It was over in no-time. The peace negotiations would continue.

    But that wasn’t as important right now as Narsha had to make sure that she had stopped Ajax in time. She let go of her greatsword still firmly lodged into the body of Ajax to check up on her human companion. “Are you okay?!”

    Lossë had the widest eyes and a look of horror on her face as the realization hit her of what had just happened. She slumped to her knees and she dropped her sword, the magic fading from its blade.    She did not look away from the bloodied corpse of Ajax. “You… saved me,” she stammered timidly.

    Narsha nodded. “That’s what you do to your allies on the battlefield.”

    Only now did the human look up, a tear streaking down her cheek. She reached forward and, much to the legionnaire’s surprise, gave her savior a tight hug. “T-thank you…” she whimpered.

    Narsha was taken by surprise there. She didn’t really know how to react to that. Awkwardly, she patted Lossë on the back. “Yeah, yeah, yeah… there there…”

    Behind Narsha came the sound of several snickering charr. Of course… it was her warband. She turned her head and shot a furious glare at them.

    “You know, when they said ‘peace negotiations’, this isn’t quite what they meant,” Scarra teased.

    Havoc laughed. “Oh, leave ‘em be. She’s exploring new avenues.”

    “I will personally see to it that the Goremonger gets revived to massacre all of you!” Narsha snarled back.

    A roar of laughter ran through the whole warband. Even Narsha herself couldn’t quite keep her serious face.

    It was only now that Lossë finally let go herself. “I… I’m sorry! I’m sorry I… I didn’t mean to…”

    “It’s fine,” Narsha interrupted. “Are you hurt?”

    Lossë looked down at her body and ran her hands all over to check. “I don’t think so…”

    Narsha snorted through her nose. It really was just the shock of what had happened. The legionnaire’s own life had been in danger plenty of times but that first time is always quite a shock. “You’ll get used to that,” she murmured, mostly to herself.

    Lossë gave her a puzzled look.

    “Legionnaire!”

    There was only one man who was acting so formal around here. Narsha stood up and turned around to face warmaster Forgal, who was casually wiping some blood off his sword. Narsha saluted the man. “Warmaster!”

    “A job well done. The renegades have been dealt a serious blow today and the negotiations can continue. General Soulkeeper will be very pleased. Of course, I’ll report to her on your aid.”

    Narsha nodded. “These fools were a bunch of ragtag soldiers. They weren’t warbands and so they lost to us easily.”

    Forgal looked down at the body of Ajax. “Still, it makes me wonder why, of all charr, the cub of general Soulkeeper and your imperator Ruinbringer would come to be their leader.”

    It was a good question. A very good question. Narsha knew that Bangar wasn’t very trusting. He didn’t trust the other legions and he trusted the other races of Tyria even less. But Ajax grew up in a fahrar. It was very uncommon for charr to have any sort of connection to their dames and sires. It makes one wonder…

    “Regardless. It’s thanks to you two that we got our warning in time,” Forgal said.

    Lossë gulped as she stood up. “It was only thanks to Selma that we even got to you in the first place.”

    Narsha nodded. “That’s right. She evaded capture and managed to free us before running off to save Ebonhawke.”

    The warmaster stroked his beard in thought. “Ah yes, my recruit. I suppose I should head off to check on her. I know she can go far if she can get her head out of the clouds.”

    “I think she just wants to impress you, sir,” Lossë proposed.

    The warmaster roared with laughter. It was the first time any of them had seen the old norn even so much as crack a smile that day. “I guess that’s a good point.” With that, he gave them a nod and turned to the remainder of the vigil force. “Move out!”

    As the vigil left, Narsha and Lossë got surrounded by the members of Sharp. Narsha looked around herself with pride. “Well done, people. Mogul would be proud. Y’all deserve some R&R.”

    Euryale cheered the loudest. “Who’s up for Booze and Meat up in Diessa?!”

    “YEAH!” the rest agreed.

    “Uhm…”

    Everyone looked at Lossë in confusion.

    “Can… I join?”

    Narsha raised an eyebrow. “Why are you even asking? You fought alongside us, you celebrate alongside us.”

    Lossë had the biggest grin on her face as a result. “Thanks!”

    And so, the Sharp warband and Lossë began their long trek back to Ebonhawke. Even if Narsha didn’t want to admit it, she had gained a new friend that day, and a human no less. A human who she’d end up having many more adventures with. But that is a story for another time.