Disclaimer: All recognizable things belong to Libba Bray, that amazing woman who deigned to give us a glimpse into her mind. All else… Well, I suppose you could say it was mine. I would prefer you didn't, though.

A/N: This one's for JIR and KLC, though I know they'll never read it. Thanks also to all the reviewers. You guys ROCK my SOCKS. This is finally, finally the chapter you've all been waiting for: the battle, yay! I hope that I've written it well, and any suggestions or commentary that you have about it are, as always, fully appreciated. I really hope that this helps make up from my unexpectedly prolonged hiatus. And, on that note… Enjoy!

Refresher: Did Lao Tsu dream the butterfly or did the butterfly dream Lao Tsu?

In the Realms, Chapter Fourteen

I am dreaming again. There are flitting butterflies, with green and white banded bodies and fluttering red and blue wings, bounding from flower to flower… From a purple orchid, to purest jasmine, the butterflies refuse to choose just one. Then a fluttering moth appears, clothed in shades of brown. Its wings brush against the wings of one of the butterflies, and the butterfly pulls away from its group and darts off with the moth.

Then comes a large black cat comes sneaking up behind them, and transmutes into a glittering black butterfly. It flies in circles around the brown moth and colourful butterfly, and then dances in front of the moth enticingly. The black insect reaches out with one wing and caresses the moth, luring it away from the vibrant butterfly… and then it transmutes back into a black cat that swallows up the brown moth.

With an evil grin, the cat stares at the vivid little butterfly and purrs. In that ominous sound, I seem to hear a threat: 'You're next…'

I wake to the acrid scent of something burning, and the first thought that I have is that I am back in the East Wing, flames raging about me. I bolt upright, my hand automatically going to the pendant around my throat.

"Faylu jwu bditul!" I shout, not really in control of my voice. "Faylu jwu bditul!"

"Gemma!" Someone's arms wrap around me from behind, pinning my flailing hands to my side. "Gemma, calm down! What's wrong?"

Reality restores itself, and I blink in the dimness of my tent. I look down at the firm, brown arms wrapped around me, and then over my shoulder at the man holding me. "Kartik…"

He relaxes his grip, easing his hands away. "Gemma, what happened? You were asleep, and then you suddenly sat up, screaming something in that… magick language."

Something is biting into my palm, and I look down at my clenched fist. With some difficulty, I unfold my stiff fingers and stare down at the pendant in my gloved hand. Without really understanding how I know this, I murmur, "It's time." I raise my head and look Kartik in the eye. "The War of the Realms has begun."

"What are you talking about, Gemma?"

"Come on – we need to get out of here." I scramble to my feet and push my way through the tent flap, emerging into… a serene campsite. Nothing burning, no one screaming. Then why did I smell flames and why did my pendant force me from sleep? Did it at all?

Kartik comes up from behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "Gemma, calm down. You're fretting over nothing!"

Smoke again reaches my nostrils, and I pull away from his touch. "Nothing, you say? How can you say our campsite burning about our ears is nothing?"

He looks at me, his dark eyes full of concern, and shakes his head. "Oh, Gemma. Darling Gemma, are you still having those nightmares?"

"Nightmares?" I repeat, my gaze wandering over the perfectly calm area. Perhaps I am delusional… Maybe it was nothing more than a dream.

Kartik nods and tucks my hair behind my ear. "From the time that you've spent in the Realms, Gemma. Sometimes you wake up screaming about Poppy Warriors or the shadows that kill. You once railed for ten minutes straight about some sort of Shadow Warriors that had hunted you and the others of the New Order. You kept saying that Pippa wasn't protected, that the horsemen wanted her with them."

I glare sharply at him. "I never told you that."

He tilts his head to the side. "Of course you did, Gemma. You told me everything after we left the Realms. I know it hurts sometimes, but you need to let go of the New Order. They're gone; they're not coming back."

"What?" I whisper, looking down at my pendant. "Gone?" I look up, into the horizon. "Dead?"

Kartik puts his hands on my shoulders again, and then tilts my chin up so that I meet his gaze. "Gemma, you know that the Winter Queen defeated the New Order in the battle for the Realms. She spared your life because you sacrificed the others to her."

"No… I would never…"

"Shh. I understand; you feel guilty about it still. But they would have done the same, to preserve their lives. You only did to them what they would have done to you."

"No!" I scream, wrenching myself free of Kartik's grasp. Smoke permeates the air for a brief moment, and then is gone. "You'll not get me this way, Pippa!" I shout to the sky. "I shan't believe your lies!" A deep chuckle answers my words, and I turn to look at Kartik. He's changed – his smile is fanged, his eyes upturned at the corners, and his fingers have talons on the end.

"Very good, Priestess," he snarls. "I almost had you. Very well – you have won a single battle. But you cannot win the war."

This pseudo-Kartik shimmers like mist, and then is gone. With him goes the façade of a halcyon campsite, and the scents and sounds of battle hit me straight on. I see Min with a quiver full of noxious green arrows, which she is shooting into a swarm of shadows that are heading straight for her. Ann is holding her own against a sort of rotting woman, who looks as though she has been dead some time, holding a sort of African-looking spear; as my gaze sweeps over this small scuffle, I see Ann disarm her opponent and scramble into another skirmish without pause for breath. Kartik is battling another creature, who continues to change shape even as Kartik has him pinned to the ground. 'How many shapeshifters does Pippa have?'

Philon is using both weapons and hooves to fight, crushing as many opponents beneath his rearing body as he kills using his magickal weaponry. Felicity fights at his side, her lips pulled back to expose a ferocious sneer, her wild blonde hair streaming behind her. Asha does not engage in full battle; instead, she sits in a meditative pose, but she strikes down those of Pippa's soldiers who dare to come near her with as little exertion as breathing. William the Golden Knight is fighting his way through a crowd of foot soldiers, his blade shining crimson with the lifeblood of those whom he has already felled. At the centre of the crowd, I recognize the shapeshifter, Agerthan, that I saw in my vision, and I realise that this fight will be personal for William.

I turn, because I feel a rush of air at my back, and startle a soldier, who is in the very act of swinging a blade at my back. With a flick of my wrist, I send him flying. He lands on another soldier's spear, and I spare a moment to cringe at this first act of war; as I take a breath, I notice that my pendant is again around my throat, no longer in my hand as it was in my false vision. Then I spin round on my heel, my hands outstretched, and send a burst of magick through my fingertips that slices through every soldier of Pippa's within range. For a moment, there is a clear circle around me, but then shadows fill the void, and I again battle for the Realms. Fires have broken out in various places around the clearing – I spare a moment to wonder exactly how Pippa's forces broke through our shield – and I recall my instinctive words upon waking.

"Faylu jwu bditul!" I cry. I gesture to all the fires that I see and repeat the chant six more times. On my last repetition, water shimmers over the flames, and then falls, dousing the crackling fire in an instant. One of them was near William, and he spares a breath to gesture his thanks in my direction.

I return my attention to the shadows surrounding me, and reach up with one hand to touch my pendant. When my gloved fingers make contact with the beaten metal, the knowledge of the previous Order surges into my psyche, and I hear the spell in my mind.

"Dekwj!" An orb of light appears in my curved hands; I bring it over my head and clap my hands together. The ball of light shatters, a spear of light arcing into the core of each shadow within the radius of my previous attack. With a terrible scream, they die in a burst of whiteness.

"It's not enough!" shouts Ann as she appears at my side, out of breath from fighting. "Your abilities have limits!"

"Not if we work together! If we pool our magick, we can do anything!" I shout back. I grab her hand and tell her the spell to use. "Say it with me!"

As one, we raise our hands to the sky and shout, "Dekwj!" Together we shatter the resultant sphere of light, and every Shadow Creature within the campground shrieks in agony as they burn away.

A few metres away, Felicity pulls the trigger of her crossbow, and the metal bolt flies home, catching a spectre of a girl in the heart. She falls to the ground, truly dead, soul-dead, but another soon replaces her. And then another spectre appears at Felicity's back, then her side, then across from her, and…

"Fee!" Ann cries out in alarm. She turns to me, her brown eyes worried, and I have to appreciate just how Ann she is right now. Only our Ann-girl could spare the energy to worry about a friend in the middle of pitched battle. "Gemma, we have to do something."

"But what?" My eyes widen, and I pull her down to the ground as I dive for cover. "Duck!"

"What was that?" hisses Ann.

"Some sort of boomerang blade." I shake the strangeness of that statement away and look over at Felicity, who is valiantly struggling to escape from the circle of spectres. "What can we do?"

Ann's mind is clearly racing. "I don't know… We need a spell!"

"To do what?" I see a blade arcing towards Ann's neck and instinctively conjure a shield. "Rdanq!"

Ann starts to thank me, but then her brown eyes widen, she repeats the spell-word – "Rdanq!" – and I feel a swish of air at my back followed by a tremendous clanging noise. "Can you create a shield that will prevent anything from striking us, but that will allow us to send physical blows through?" Ann asks quickly.

I blink, trying to process her request. "I-I don't know… I could try, I suppose." My hand creeps up to my pendant, gripping it tightly. Again, the knowledge of the past Order inundates my mind as I pick through the information, trying to find a single spell among the flood of unfamiliar verbiage. Finally, I think I've found a suitable one – I'm surprised that I'm not dead yet – and gesture at Fee, shouting, "Ryrrdu!"

A silvery orb shimmers into being around Felicity, muffling her startled yell. She pokes warily at the substance, but her hand doesn't pass through. She tries slashing at it with a hand-dagger, but the blade won't penetrate. Ann looks askance at me, and I cringe.

"Perhaps that wasn't the right spell…"

"Maybe not, but we can use it to our advantage," returns Ann. She conjures a shield into her hands and sends it flying, discus-style, at an approaching apparition. The apparition dissipates when the shield flies through it, and Ann re-absorbs the magick she exerted to create the shield. "If we can trap our enemies into things like that, then they won't be able to move, nor attack. It's like a cage!"

I watch, horror-stricken, as Felicity's bubble rolls towards a tree. "And Fee's stuck in one. Come on!" I take off at a dead run, hoping to avert certain disaster. At the last moment, I reach up and touch my pendant, searching for the reversal spell. The closest one I can find sounds rather childish, but I suppose it will work, because it has to, since Fee is moments from slamming against one of the branches, and why am I still thinking about this? "Xax!" I cry, and Felicity is released from her prison.

"Remind me not to irritate you, Gemma, darling!" she calls to me, turning to engage another creature in battle.

"Fee, wait!" I run over to her. "If you use the spell-word 'Ryrrdu,' it traps your opponent in a bubble… Much like the one I accidentally trapped you in – for which I apologise, by the bye – it is impenetrable, and keeps them from attacking you."

"Got it: ry-er-do." Felicity turns away, a determined look on her face, and I spare a moment to sigh at her obstinacy. Then I turn and see Kartik, a hideously long gash down his cheek, aiming a longbow – well, the arrow that is notched into the longbow – at a creature attacking Philon. His eyes narrow in concentration as he takes aim and releases the taut string, and… I wonder why I have the time to notice him. After all, I'm in the middle of a battle.

A spear abruptly appears, flying at me. Perhaps I spoke too quickly. "Rdanq!" A shield deflects the blow, and I take a leaf from Ann's book, throwing the shield at my attacker discus-style. It strikes the soldier in the head, felling him almost instantly. Just as quickly, another soldier takes his place, and I use the caging spell on him. With that opponent out of the way, I turn in search of another.

Rushing towards me is a hag, a creature that I never really believed existed, even in the Realms. Her awful features are twisted with fury, her talons outstretched. I try the caging spell on her, but she darts right through the bubble of magick, and realise that she must have some innate ability of her own. I reach for my pendant and find an appropriate spell: "Bzuusu ihf lwijjuz!" With a shriek as dreadful as her appearance, the hag stops mid-lunge and breaks into thousands of pieces, like a sculpture that has been smashed with a hammer.

I dart behind a tree to catch my breath, and re-emerge into an eerily serene campsite. This must be another of Pippa's tricks. There is a single tent in the clearing, and a man sitting just outside it. His head is bowed as though he has been waiting for some time, but I recognize who he is supposed to be, even from this distance. It's a pseudo-Kartik; really, Pippa must be obsessed with him. This is the second attempt she's given at using Kartik to distract me. I decide to go along with it, just to get a feel for Pippa's next plot.

"Kartik, what's going on?" I ask, stepping out from behind the tree with feigned astonishment. "Just a moment ago, we were fighting for the Realms and now… It's all quiet. What happened?"

The man lifts his head and looks at me. "Gemma, where have you been?" he asks, getting to his feet stiffly. "I've been waiting ages for you."

I walk towards him gingerly, aware that I'm probably still walking through a battlefield, though I can't see it at the moment. "Have you? Oh, I apologise. How rude of me to keep you waiting."

He sighs and shakes his head. "Gemma, we need to talk."

"Certainly. In the tent?" I suggest, aware that no battles are currently being fought inside the tents, therefore making them the safest spot for me right now. Pseudo-Kartik nods mutely and draws back the flap, permitting me to enter first. Once we are inside – either Pippa's minion is letting me see the tent as it truly is, or he's expending undue effort to keep it the way Kartik and I had it – I settle onto the sleeping mat and look at him curiously. "What do we need to talk about, Kartik?" I ask softly, reaching out to touch his cheek reassuringly. After all, I might as well keep the façade as intact as possible.

"This." The single word comes out so shortly and so forcefully that I freeze halfway through the comforting gesture, my hand never reaching his skin. "This is what we need to discuss." He gestures eloquently between us as he elaborates, "Gemma, just what are we doing?"

I struggle to keep my voice neutral as I draw my hand back to rest in my lap. This is how Pippa plans to disarm me? "I thought that we were fighting a war against Pippa. At least, that's what we were doing the last time I checked. What do you think we're doing?" I ask, my gaze resolutely on the dirt between our mats. If this underling can't see my expression, then he can't evaluate how well Pippa's little trap is working.

"Damn it, Gemma, the war's over! What are we supposed to do now? Look, you're a very pretty girl, but…" The pseudo-Kartik sweeps frustrated fingers through his thick curls. "This won't work."

I laugh. "Are you joking, Kartik? With everything that's happening, you choose to discuss…" I trail off, realising that there really isn't a name for whatever has been going on between the real Kartik and myself.

"Exactly," pseudo-Kartik says emphatically. "You see? What are we doing here, Gemma? You and I have no chance of being together back there, in the physical world. So why are we pretending as though we have a chance here?"

Heat rushes to my face and my throat tightens unpleasantly. "Kartik…"

"You know it's true, Gemma." He lifts one hand as though to touch my face, but I pull away. He leans forward instead, speaking earnestly. "You're the daughter of English gentry, and I am naught but a poor Indian boy. What could I ever give you?"

I consider the question just as seriously as I would have if the real Kartik had asked it of me. "You could give me love," I whisper. "You could give me a place where I feel as though I belong."

The charlatan shakes his head. "You belong among the gentry of England, Miss Doyle. You should have wedded Percival Faber."

I try and fail to hide my smirk. "Perhaps I would have – if he had asked me to wed him. Really, shapeshifter, I would have expected better from the Queen of the Winterlands' underling."

The blood drains from the face of the pseudo-Kartik, and he curses in another language. "Very well, Miss Doyle," he snarls. "Another round goes to you, but you shan't be so lucky when next we meet."

He leaps to his feet and darts out of the tent. I creep over to the flap and pull it back, half-expecting the outside still to be as serene as Pippa, for some reason, wants me to see it. I wonder if there is a way to prevent any further illusory attempts at distracting me. When I look through, I see Min, locked in hand-to-hand combat against a sort of humanoid bird-creature. It has a beak and wings, but it also has arms and legs; I wish I knew what it was. Well, the war is still clearly in progress; I should get out there and continue to fight it. I steal out of the tent and sneak up behind another creature, this one in the process of attacking Philon.

"Ryrrdu!" I gesture at the strangely aquatic reminiscent creature, and it is instantly trapped in a gleaming bubble. Philon gives me a cursory nod of thanks, and then turns to engage a black pegasus in combat. With no one in the New Order in dire straits (for the moment), I conjure a shield at my back and walk towards the trapped sea-creature. It seems to have gills in its throat, as well as the usual respiration components. I pace all the way round the creature's bubble, before standing in front of it and looking it in the face. Its bilious yellow eyes blink vacantly at me.

"What are you?" I ask. "Why do you serve Pippa?" It says nothing, so I shrug my leather-clad shoulders in a show of indifference. "Very well." I press my hand against the bubble and allow a moment of sadness that this unusual creature's spirit will be forever lost to the Realms – all because of Pippa's need to rule the Realms absolutely. "Bzuusu ihf lwijjuz," I whisper.

The bubble solidifies and splinters within seconds, too quickly for the unknown warrior to cry out. But almost as quickly does another soldier take its place, and I am again battling against a creature. This one hisses at me, just as a cat might, and slashes at me with deadly looking claws.

"Rdanq!" I cry, barely catching the swipe against my shield. Even so, the strength of the cat-creature staggers me, and I fall to one knee. This time I don't rely on my mother's magick, but focus my imagination and the magick of the Realms. With a swirl and whisper of magick, a large dog-like being appears behind the cat-creature, barking loudly. The cat-thing yowls in fright and scrabbles up a tree, making me laugh at the simplicity of victory.

Kartik appears (non-magickally) at my side, his face grimy and his curls damp with sweat. Before he opens his mouth to address me, though, I quickly conjure a fencing foil and go into a defensive posture. I have never before used a sword, though I once saw a drawing of a foil in a library book, but I believe that the pointed end goes into the opponent. "Kartik, why did you throw a rock at Simon Middleton's window when you were my family's footman?" I ask guardedly.

He blinks in confusion. "I wasn't," he said. "I was your driver, remember, Gemma? And it was because I saw him touching your hair."

I relax and allow the epée to shimmer away. "I apologize, but Pippa has been putting me into false circumstances with rather revolting imitations of you. I wanted to make certain that you weren't here to stick a knife into my back."

Kartik seems about to ask just what I mean, but then his expression hardens as he senses something that I do not. Without looking away from me, he conjures a spear and stabs a soldier that had been rushing at us. "Gemma, listen to me," he says urgently, his eyes willing me to understand what he's saying. "This isn't working. Pippa's ranks are overwhelming the New Order. What can we do?"

William runs past, his blade slick with black blood, and he pauses briefly to rub the sword clean on a dead creature's pelt. I wonder absently if this means that Agerthan is defeated, or if William still battles the shapeshifter, and then recall my mind to Kartik's words. "I don't know… I…"

Felicity comes running up from another part of the battlefield, and I spare a moment to marvel at how my friends instinctively seek me out in midst of conflict, though I can do nothing that they cannot. "Gemma, it's not looking good," she says, her voice containing a note of stress in it that I've never heard there before. "We need a spell… or a-a ritual to destroy them."

"Yes, well…" A spear whizzes by my head, and I quickly drop into a crouch. Just as I'm about to continue speaking, some sort of fireball lands in our midst, forcing us to scatter. A zephyr whirls by, Min rushes past brandishing a wickedly sharp dagger, Philon thunders up next to me as he shouts something, and it's all getting so I can't hear myself think, and I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing that it would all just… "Stop!" I scream, throwing my hands up in frustration.

When I open my eyes again, everything is entirely still, just as it was during the opera intermission last winter. Well, not entirely – it's more as though every living thing is moving extremely slowly. I turn to look at my comrades, and am shocked to see that I have slowed their movement, as well. I would love to devote time to the study of this phenomenon, now that I have manifested it for a second time, but my priority is assisting the New Order. To each member of the New Order I shall bestow a gift, one that I have the luxury of considering, as I move within the silence that inhabits the space between heartbeats, seconds, breaths. I choose Kartik as my first; I walk to him and place my hand on his arm.

"I know that you tire," I tell him. "I know that you tire of battle, of arguments, of interruptions. My gift to you is endurance, and the knowledge that you will emerge victorious." I hesitate, but quickly press a kiss against the fingers that he has wrapped around the hilt of a curved blade. "Victory will be ours," I promise, my lips moving against his skin.

Then I go to Min, who is in midst of swinging a scythe, which was presumably taken from a fallen opponent. I duck under the blade and touch her on the arm. "Min, I thank you for your loyalty. In gratitude, I promise to help you restore your tribe to its former glory, some way, somehow." Perhaps it is my imagination, but I think I see Min's reptilian gaze flicker towards me when I make my pledge, feel the slightest trace of muscle response under my hand. I turn away in search of another New Order cohort.

Asha is slowly deflecting a blow when I approach her, so I summon a blast of magick to knock her assailant a few metres away to give myself room to manoeuvre. I kneel at her side and press my fingers against her arm. "Asha, you have guided me as no one else could. You already lead your women, so I cannot give you a tribe; you have endured a lifetime of pain and things of which few others could dream, so I cannot give you any more fortitude or patience than you already have. Instead, I give you the ability to help others see past surface value, to always know the path to truth that so few know how to find."

The closest person I can see is the newest member of the New Order, and I know so very little of him; how am I to know what he requires of me? Yet I have endeavoured to procure some sort of blessing or another for my comrades, and he is no different. I walk to William and lightly press my fingertips to the exposed line of his jaw, the only place that I can safely touch him without opening a wound from his studded armour. Apparently, he spent enough time with Min, Asha, and Philon to control the magick. "In my world, I have heard that faith is a God-given virtue, but I am no goddess here. Even so, I give to you, Knight William," I say, my voice as steady as my nerves are not, "the gift of faith in yourself and in your newfound comrades. We shall trust you."

Philon is moving at a slightly faster rate than the others were previously, and I spare a moment to wonder if my accidental spell is wearing off. Then I shake that concern away and put my hand on his flank. "Philon, you are the spymaster, the arms expert, and the most effective leader that I have ever encountered. I wish that I could lead half as well as you. I give to you the ability to share dialogue with the nature entities around you – to become the liaison between the true inhabitants of the Realms and the New Order."

Lastly, I seek Felicity and Ann, together. Luckily, I find the two of them not far from each other, well within the range of my touch. I stretch my arms out and rest a hand on each of their shoulders, wishing to bestow a joint boon. "Ann and Felicity, you have become more than friends; you are my sisters. There is so much that I wish I could give to you, but here is what I have chosen: no matter what occurs in the future, in this battle, we will never be separated. We shall each know where the other is through concentration, and will be able to speak through our minds should we ever be divided. We will never truly be apart, even when it seems that we are."

I step back and summon magick around me like a heavy cloak, closing my eyes and wrapping it around me for a comforting moment. Without opening my eyes, I make a gesture as though unwrapping a ribbon from around my body and lift my arms, casting a web of magick around me. My comrades are unharmed, but the weakest of Pippa's foot soldiers burn away to nothing when the metaphysical trap touches them. I am grateful that I can't hear their screams, as I'm certain that the sound would be piteous, but I can't delay the battle any further.

I allow the magick to settle around my friends, giving the Realms time to bestow the gifts that I have vowed to confer upon the New Order. Once that is done, I clasp my hands in front of me and take a deep breath. "Restore," I murmur on the exhale.

The sounds and sights of battle resume around me, and I smile to myself as I see Felicity looking around in confusion for her opponent. I spare no more time on assessing the breadth of my friends' surprise, and instead conjure a long fencing foil into my hand, imbuing the blade with a deadliness borne of magick that no physical weapon could possibly contain.

'I hope I'm doing this correctly,' I pray silently, and then run directly towards the heart of the camp, naked blade in hand. About halfway there, a man steps into my path, effectively blocking me. I lift my foil in mute challenge, and the man smirks. As clearly as though his thoughts are written across his armour, I can tell that he doesn't believe me a true opponent. Very well, he will be that much more surprised when I defeat him.

"If you stand down now," I warn him quietly, "you will be permitted to live."

Still smirking, my opponent draws a wickedly curved blade that looks vaguely Arabian in origin. "How odd," he returns. "That's exactly what I was about to say to you." He shrugs. "I expect that your answer will be the same as mine, so…"

I barely bring my blade up in time to parry his abrupt sweep, gritting my teeth with the effort of holding him back. "Jwzam!" I snarl, pushing with all my might. He stumbles back, his eyes wide with astonishment. Then he bares his teeth in a sneer, his eyes tapering to slits; I shan't surprise him with such a spell again.

When he thrusts the point of his sword towards my chest, I react instinctively, bringing my fist to my heart, my foil lying diagonally across my torso. Just as my opponent's blade is about to pierce my hand, the henna painting on my skin flares to life. The design glows gold for the briefest moment, and then melts into my body, instilling a golden hue to my skin that repels the blade just as surely as a shield would have. I silently thank the Realms for Asha, and then clench my jaw in preparation for the killing blow. To my astonishment, my opponent simply melts away into shadows, which then dissipate.

I am left staring, stupefied, at the empty ground before me. In that lull of bewilderment, I inexplicably feel a presence coming from behind me, and I whip around, aiming to slash my blade across this sneaker's belly. My aim is a bit off, and the person stops short, so that my blow doesn't even touch their clothing. It is a man of perhaps average height that stares calculatingly at me, his head tilted to one side in a curiously bird-like manner.

"Hello, false Queen. How nice to see you again, Gemma," the dark man says with a smile that seems more of a sneer. The way that he says my name makes it sound more of an insult than anything else. "Did I startle you?"

I make a three-quarter turn so that my shoulder is perpendicular to his body and extend my sword arm until the tip of my foil just flutters in front of his chest. "I think not, Agerthan," I say evenly.

He looks startled, but quickly smoothes his surprise away. "I should have known that you would have spies in our army, false Queen."

"I didn't, and stop calling me that," I snap. My arm quivers slightly with ache of having my foil extended in a single position, but I do nothing. Mentally, I seek out Felicity and Ann, sending a quiet call for aid. I more feel than hear a response, a comforting pressure in my head that reassures me that they are on their way.

"Why not?" Agerthan retorts. "You have claimed the Realms, to which you have no true right. My Goddess-Queen Pippa is truly of the Realms – she should rule, not you!"

"I do not 'rule' at all." I know that he is drawing me into this debate for some diabolical purpose, but I cannot prevent myself from arguing with him. "Your so-called 'queen' is a liar."

"And you are not?" Agerthan asked silkily. "Very well, perhaps you are not. But what of your comrades? How can you be so sure they aren't lying?" Before my eyes, he transforms into each of my friends in turn. "Did Min truly lose her tribe?" he asks in her voice before becoming Felicity. "What is your Strength not telling you?" He transforms into Ann. "Why doesn't she trust you with her life's story?" He becomes Philon in face only; perhaps such a drastic shift in physical form is too difficult for him. "Do you truly believe he won't betray you?" Asha's face sneers at me, "How can you be sure that she is telling you everything?" I mentally brace myself for the one that I know is coming now, but I flinch when Agerthan becomes Kartik anyway. "Do you know that he has lied to you countless times?"

My arm is shaking quite violently now, and I feel as though the only cure would be to drop the foil altogether. I stiffen my arm even more resolutely than before, though, determined not to succumb to whatever spell is upon me. "I trust them implicitly, Agerthan," I say quietly. "Can Pippa say the same for you?"

A flicker of doubt races across his countenance, but it's gone before I can react to it. "What would you know of my Queen?" he sneers.

"She was once my best friend," I reply solemnly. "I know her much better than you could ever hope to know her."

He goes rigid, his face returning to the one that I have seen him in most, though I doubt it is his own. "Be careful of such hubris, Pretender," he snarls. "My Queen has destroyed others for less."

"And yet here I am, still standing, still taunting you," I retort, feeling a trickle of sweat starting to edge down my temple. "Do you have anything to say, Agerthan, or are we just going to stand here all day, staring at each other?"

His dark eyes glitter fiendishly, his lips pulling back in a harsh smile. "Not at all, Pretender," he says smoothly. "I was simply here to serve as a distraction."

I lower my foil to my side, my mind racing, anxiety and apprehension overwhelming my thoughts. "To distract me? Why? From what?" A black shadow races over the ground next to me, and Agerthan reaches up, grasping the hand of a harpy-woman that hauls him into the air with her. His dark laughter echoes across the landscape, leaving me frustrated and straining to catch his last words.

"Check on your comrades, false Queen!" he calls back to me. "And know that you shan't survive our next encounter."

I am left staring after him, my eyes unblinking as my fingers convulse around the grip of my foil. It is in this position that Ann and Fee find me in, when they finally arrive, liberally coated in dirt and grime.

"I heard you in my head, Gemma," Ann says breathlessly. "A new gift?"

"Somewhat," I murmur, distracted. "Is everyone all right?"

Fee snorts. "About as well as could be expected. We're alive, which is enough. Gemma, we were woefully unprepared. I think we need to bring the other tribes into the New Order to fight at our side, instead of just representatives. We need more people."

"Good plan," I acquiesce, my gaze still on the horizon. "But I think we have trouble headed our way."

"What do you mean?" asks Ann.

I lift the hand not gripping a deadly blade and point at a black speck that is rapidly growing, the closer it comes to us. "Look up." Fee and Ann obey, both paling slightly.

"A chariot," breathes Felicity

"Pippa," Ann realizes, her lips hardly moving. "She's coming into the front lines herself."

Red spots of colour appear in Felicity's cheeks as she swears, "We are so destined for the Winterlands!"

A/N: I know that some of you don't believe that the magick-speech is a viable language, so here are the translations of the spells and spell-words used in this chapter: Faylu jwu bditul -- douse the flames; Dekwj -- light; Rdanq -- block; Ryrrdu -- bubble; Xax -- pop; Bzuusu ihf lwijjuz -- freeze and shatter; Jwzam -- throw.

Anyway, thanks for keeping up with this even through all the sporadic updates and whatnot; w00t, 130 reviews! I'm so proud. So I'm sure that most of you lovely readers are aware that Libba Bray will be releasing the third book of the series quite soon, so this fic will become AU shortly [and if you weren't aware, then now you are. I really appreciate all of your encouragement and incentive. Blessed be.

Next Chapter Teaser: "No, Kartik! Damn you, witch, I will have your head for this!"